On the investigation of separation between reflection and backscattering components by plane wave imaging for estimation of surface roughness

When the endothelial cells on the arterial wall are damaged and detached in the early stage of atherosclerosis, the luminal surface of the blood vessel roughens [1]. When ultrasonic waves are obliquely incident on such a rough surface, the backscattered component becomes stronger compared to when the surface is smooth. Therefore, separation of the reflection component from the backscattering component in the signal from the transducer could be useful for diagnosing early stage atherosclerosis. Previously, we investigated the separation of reflected and backscattered components in echo signals using synthetic aperture methods with spherically diverging waves [2]. In this study, we aimed to separate the reflection and backscattering components by plane wave transmission and to compare the separated signals representing these two components.