Cross fertilization between the quantitative nondestructive evaluation (QNDE) community and the diagnostic medicine community in the area of ultrasonics represents an attractive but challenging goal. High resolution, real-time ultrasonic imaging is routinely available not only in major medical centers but even in modest community hospitals. However, quantitative ultrasonic evaluation based on the physics of the interaction of ultrasound with tissue (often described by the term tissue characterization) is relatively limited in comparison with the rather sophisticated approaches developed for QNDE.