A review of basic to clinical studies of quantitative ultrasound of cortical bone

Abstract

The use of quantitative ultrasound (QUS) for bone has increased sharply over the last two decades. QUS offers potential benefits over other diagnostic modalities which include (1) ex vivo non-destructive testing, (2) in vivo non-ionizing testing, and (3) the ability to assess important cortical bone quality factors which cannot easily be captured with X-ray techniques. These advantages have stimulated widespread interest in basic through clinical studies. For instance, resonant ultrasonic spectroscopy (RUS) has provided gains in ex vivo assessment of the anisotropic stiffness and viscoelasticity of bone despite strong damping. RUS is prone to provide answers to questions that remain open regarding the determinants of cortical bone elastic properties. In vivo QUS technologies using guided waves (GW) have the potential to reveal cortical bone strength-related factors such as the cortical thickness and porosity. These properties can be estimated by comparing the measured dispersion curves with an appropriate...