ULTRASONIC BONE ASSESSMENT APPARATUS AND METHOD

摘要

A method for the assessment of various properties of bone is provided. The method includes applying a pair of ultrasound transducers to skin on opposite sides of the bone and generating an ultrasound signal and directing the signal through both the bone to obtain a bone output signal. The method further includes establishing a set of parameters associated with the bone output signal and then further processing the parameters in order to obtain the desired bone property. Two novel parameters are also disclosed, namely the net time delay (NTD) and mean time duration (MTD) parameters. An apparatus for the assessment of various properties of bone is also provided. The apparatus includes a pair of ultrasound transducers, which may be single-element transducers or array transducers in any combination. The apparatus further includes various computer hardware components and computer software for generating and directing the ultrasound signal, establishing the parameter set and performing the processing. In addition, an apparatus that is battery powered, handheld, and portable and operates in real time is also provided.