Ultrasonic bone assessment method and apparatus

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 and a known medium to obtain a bone output signal and a reference signal. The method further includes establishing a set of parameters associated with the bone output signal and a set of parameters associated with the reference signal and then subjecting the two sets of parameters to comparative analysis in order to obtain the desired bone property. 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 sets and performing the comparative analysis.