Studies on Frequency Dependent Attenuation with Spectral-Shift Zero-Crossing Method

FDA of normal brain in newborns and young infancy

Abstract

Frequency Dependent Attenuation (FDA) measurment in liver, spleen, thyroid, and breast had been reported previously. We measured FDA of cerebrum, cerebellum and thalamus in normal brain tissue in infancy using the Spectral-Shift Zero-Crossing method. FDA values were as follows : cerebrum, 0.37±0.06dB/ cm/MHz (mean±SD) ; cerebellum, 0.52±0.14dB/cm/MHz; thalamus, 0.50±0.11dB/cm/MHz. Significant differences of FDA values were found between cerebrum and other two tissues. These data suggest FDA value shows the difference of water and lipid balance in the brain tissue. Therefore, FDA will be useful to estimate brain edema, bleeding and/or ischemia in newborns and young infants.