Acoustic velocity and attenuation of eye tissues at 20 MHz.

The ultrasound velocity and frequency-dependent attenuation of human and porcine eye tissues (cornea, lens, retina, choroid, sclera, vitreous body) were measured in the frequency range from 17 to 23 MHz. The results for the ultrasound velocity were compared to values taken from the literature and appeared to be in the same range. A comparison made between the acoustic parameters of human and porcine eyes showed that the porcine eye can serve as an animal model for the human eye. A mathematical operation is proposed to extrapolate the attenuation to the lower frequencies that are commonly used in clinical equipment. Finally, a first attempt was made to investigate the age dependence of the acoustic parameters of human tissues: some tissues showed a significant age effect.