This can be done by estimation of the acoustic properties of the different breast tissue types out of ultrasound image data, as being able to determine these properties additionally to the structural (morphologic) information, is expected to improve the diagnostic accuracy. But, in order to verify that the method used for estimation leads to unbiased results of low variance, methods for producing phantoms of known locally variable acoustic properties need to be developed. Part of this thesis is therefore devoted to the improvements of methods for the production of phantoms with certain acoustic properties, using tissue-mimicking materials. Since it is known from literature that the majority of malignant processes are highly acoustically attenuating, formulas based on Al2O3 are characterized with respect to their absorption behavior, as this material, dependent on the chosen concentration, allows to select the attenuation parameters of a to be produced phantom (see Figure 1).

Therefore, ultrasound simulations of annotated volume data derived from other imaging modalities are useful for the generation of a breast cancer ultrasound database. Two open-source ultrasound simulation software, Field II, and k-Wave, were tested for suitability of providing valid simulation results that match as closely as possible in any aspect ultrasound images obtained from clinical equipment. As it turned out k-Wave was designed to fullfill all necessary requirements, and was therefore investigated in great detail. An example of a simulation as presented in the thesis is depicted in Figure 2.