1. A method of acquiring ultrasound response data for vascular tissue, comprising: inserting at least a portion of a catheter into a vascular structure; activating a transducer portion of the catheter, said activation of the transducer portion resulting in an ultrasound signal being transmitted toward vascular tissue; acquiring a scan line of backscattered ultrasound data from the vascular tissue; applying a one-dimensional homomorphic deconvolution operation to digital data corresponding to the scan line of backscattered ultrasound data to render an estimated scan-line system transfer function while the catheter is inside the vascular structure; and calculating, using a system transfer function based upon the estimated scan-line system transfer function, ultrasound response data for the vascular tissue.