The objective of this study was to measure the backscatter coefficient of formalin-fixed myocardial tissue as a function of angle of insonification relative to the myocardial fiber direction. Backscatter measurements were performed on eight cylindrical formalin-fixed lamb myocardial specimens and compensated for attenuation and diffraction effects to determine the backscatter coefficient. The backscatter coefficient at 5MHz was found to be maximum for insonification perpendicular to the predominant myofiber orientation and minimum for parallel insonification, with values of (17±14) and (1.2±0.7)×104cm1sr1 (mean±standard deviation), respectively.

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