• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
• /
• v.31 no.4
• /
• pp.244-252
• /
• 2012

The purpose of the present study is to investigate the correlations between acoustic properties, such as speed of sound and normalized broadband ultrasound attenuation, and bone mineral density in femur with high fracture risk. The speed of sound and the normalized broadband ultrasound attenuation in 15 bovine femoral trabecular bone samples in vitro were measured by using a through-transmission method with two matched pairs of ultrasonic transducers with center frequencies of 0.5 and 1.0 MHz. The volumetric bone mineral density of the trabecular bone samples was measured by using micro-computed tomography. The bone mineral density exhibited strong correlations with both the speed of sound and the normalized broadband ultrasound attenuation measured by using the 0.5 and the 1.0 MHz transducers. The highest correlation was found between the bone mineral density and the normalized broadband ultrasound attenuation measured by using the 0.5 MHz ultrasonic transducers. The results suggest that the acoustic properties measured in the femur in vitro can be used as indices for the prediction of femoral bone mineral density.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
• /
• v.18 no.5
• /
• pp.373-380
• /
• 1998

The prediction of bone strength by ultrasound velocity and broadband ultrasound attenuation was examined. Ultrasound velocity and broadband attenuation were measured for sixty specimens of human trabecular bone. Samples were divided into two equal groups and loaded in compression at the strain rates of $0.0004\;s^{-1}$ and of $0.08\;s^{-1}$. The ultimate strength was determined for each specimen. Specimens tested at $0.08\;s^{-1}$ had a mean value of strength 63% higher than the specimens tested at $0.0004\;s^{-1}$. Ultrasound velocity and broadband attenuation were significantly associated with compressive strength at both strain rates. Mechanical strength was also correlated strongly with a linear combination of ultrasound velocity and broadband attenuation for both the low and high loading rates. The use of ultrasound parameters may provide good clinical means for assessing the resistance of trabecular bone to both low and high energy trauma.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
• /
• v.41 no.1
• /
• pp.53-60
• /
• 2018

The purpose of this study was investigating the effect of 3D printing technology that changes the speed of sound (SOS) and the broadband ultrasound attenuation (BUA) by controlling the density of the media phantom. We used 3D printers which called additive manufacturing (AM) by using material with polylactic acid (PLA). The inside of the medium phantom was filled crossly with 100%, 90%, 80%, 70%, 60%, and 50% of the material. The ultrasonic instrument measured the SOS and the BUA using a 0.55 MHz ultrasound output in opposing mode with a pair of transducers. As a result, the density of the medium phantoms with the SOS showed very high correlation (r = 0.944), but the SOS showed very low correlation (r = 0.500). It is expecting that the manufacturing and measurement method of the medium phantom using 3D printing technology will be used as basic data for ultrasonic bone mineral density.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
• /
• v.29 no.2E
• /
• pp.64-72
• /
• 2010

Osteoporosis is a skeletal disease characterized by two factors: reduced bone mass and microstructure disruption of bone tissue. These symptoms increase bone fragility and can contribute to eventual fracture. In recent years, quantitative ultrasound (QUS) technologies have played a growing role in the diagnosis of osteoporosis. Most of the commercial bone sonometers measure speed of sound and/or broadband ultrasound attenuation at peripheral skeletal sites. However, QUS parameters are purely empirical measures that have not yet been firmly linked to physical parameters, such as bone strength or porosity, and the underlying physics for their variations in cancellous bone is not well understood yet. This paper reviews the QUS technologies for the diagnosis of osteoporosis and also addresses several theoretical models, such as the Biot model, the scattering model, the stratified model, and the modified Biot-Attenborough model, for ultrasonic wave propagation in bone.

• Progress in Medical Physics
• /
• v.18 no.3
• /
• pp.172-178
• /
• 2007

An ultrasonic bone densitometer has been developed by measuring speed of sound signal transmitted and received on the skin, not through the horizontal axis but through the vertical one in tissue. The SOS(speed of sound) method measuring the time difference between the ultrasound signals reflected from the both sides of surface of bone could produce more precise result compared with the BUA(broadband ultrasound attenuation) method measuring the frequency difference. Middle finger is selected to be the best measurement position in order to increase the accuracy, after due consideration that the thickness of flesh at the down part of thumb shows too much variation although the ratio of the receiving signal is higher than the other fingers. The measured value by using SOS method shows almost the same result as compared with the conventional DEXA method.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
• /
• v.32 no.5
• /
• pp.502-508
• /
• 2012

Quantitative ultrasound technologies for osteoporosis diagnosis measure ultrasonic parameters such as speed of sound(SOS) and normalized broadband ultrasound attenuation(nBUA) in the calcaneus (heel bone). In the present study, the dependences of SOS and nBUA on bone mineral density in the proximal femur with high risk of fracture were investigated by using 20 trabecular bone samples extracted from bovine femurs. SOS and nBUA in the femoral trabecular bone samples were measured by using a transverse transmission method with one matched pair of ultrasonic transducers with a center frequency of 1.0 MHz. SOS and nBUA measured in the 20 trabecular bone samples exhibited high Pearson's correlation coefficients (r) of r = 0.83 and 0.72 with apparent bone density, respectively. The multiple regression analysis with SOS and nBUA as independent variables and apparent bone density as a dependent variable showed that the correlation coefficient r = 0.85 of the multiple linear regression model was higher than those of the simple linear regression model with either parameter SOS or nBUA as an independent variable. These high linear correlations between the ultrasonic parameters and the bone density suggest that the ultrasonic parameters measured in the femur can be useful for predicting the femoral bone mineral density.

• Journal of the Korean Physical Society
• /
• v.73 no.12
• /
• pp.1849-1854
• /
• 2018

The present study aims to investigate the feasibility of using a simple nonlinear acoustic method for the assessment of bone status and osteoporosis in trabecular bone. Correlations of linear and nonlinear ultrasound parameters with the apparent bone density were obtained in 32 bovine femoral trabecular bone samples. Highly significant positive correlations were observed between the apparent bone density and the two linear ultrasound parameters, the speed of sound (SOS) and the normalized broadband ultrasound attenuation (nBUA), with Spearman's correlation coefficients of r = 0.85 and 0.77. In contrast, the apparent bone density was found to be negatively correlated with the nonlinear ultrasound parameter introduced in the present study, the logarithmic difference between the power spectrum levels of the fundamental frequency and the second harmonic (PSL1-PSL2), with the highest correlation coefficient of r = -0.92. These results suggest that the PSL1-PSL2, in addition to the SOS and the nBUA, may be useful for the assessment of bone status and osteoporosis.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
• /
• v.18 no.4
• /
• pp.312-323
• /
• 2013

Variables affecting bone heath of growing children were analyzed among forty nine 10-12 year old elementary students in three rural regions of north west Chungnam area. Information on age of the parents, duration of breast feeding and birth weight were collected from the guardians of the participants and nutrient intake and diet quality were assessed by average of three-day food records of participants with the help of dietitians. Bone health status was measured by calceneal broadband ultrasound attenuation (BUA) using quantitative ultrasound (QUS). Results showed that anthropometic indexes and nutrient intake levels were not different between boys and girls. However, iron intake was significantly lower in girls than in boys. Girls after menarche showed lower intake levels for thiamin, riboflavin, pyridoxine and niacin than girls before menarche. z-scores of BMI were lower than -1 and higher than +1 showed shorter breast feeding period than others but the difference was statistically non-significant. Overall, the subjects did not consume enough s of calcium, vitamin C and folic acid. Zinc intake and BMI were the most significant factors affecting BUA by the results of backward elimination in multiple regression models. Phosphorous and beta-carotene intakes showed significant negative relation with BUA. This study showed that children living in the rural area of Chungnam need extra care to keep their health and nutrient intakes especially for the nutrients known to affect growth. Tailored nutrition education needs to be more focused on the improvement of bone health status of children.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
• /
• v.11 no.4
• /
• pp.534-540
• /
• 2006

Recent studies have shown that environmental, biochemical, nutritional or genetic factors affect bone mineral density (BMD). The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effect of vitamin D receptor (VDR) gentotype and nutritional status on BMD of elderly women living in a rural area. Three hundred thirty five elderly women over 65 years in Asan participated the study. Data for demographic and nutrient intakes were obtained by survey with a two day 24 hr recall method. BMD was measured by broadband ultrasound attenuation (BUA) using quantitative ultrasound (QUS). VDR genotypes of the subjects analyzed with Bsm I restriction enzyme were bb (92%), Bb (7%) and BB (1%). No differences were found between genotypes bb and Bb/BB in age, menopausal age, body mass index and body fat. BUA of bb genotype was higher (62.5 $\pm$ 15.6 dB/MHz) than Bb/BB genotype (56.1 $\pm$ 17.6 dB/MHz) by Student's t-tests. Correlation analyses showed strong negative correlation of BMD and age, but positive correlation with BMI, energy and calcium intake. When subgroup analyses were conducted after stratification by the median calcium intake level (412.9 mg/d), the above median calcium intake group showed significant difference in BUA by VDR genotype while the lower median calcium intake group did not show significant difference. The current study confirmed interaction of calcium intake and VDR genotype in association with BMD. Further nutritional intervention will be needed to improve calcium status of the elderly women living in rural areas.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
• /
• v.22 no.8 s.173
• /
• pp.182-191
• /
• 2005

It is very important to obtain a high quality of bone image for an accurate ultrasonic measurement of bone mineral density. In this study, we suggested a technique to acquire an optimal image by adapting an acoustic lens and a properly selected ultrasonic probe. Also, we have applied an image processing algorithm with which automatically makes a decision of brightness and contrast of image by generating threshold level, a composition of ultrasonic data, an elimination of noise using modified median filter, and a real time interpolation. We could confirm much improved resolution of bone image with acoustic lens attached to the ultrasonic probe and with the image processing algorithm suggested in this study. Therefore, it became possible to precisely diagnose the osteoprosis using ultrasonic imaging technique.