Evaluation Of Osteoporosis Using Ultrasound

Abstract

We have developed an equipment using ultrasound transducers to help in the diagnosis of osteoporosis. The equipment consists of an X-Y axes displacement system controlled by a microcomputer and uses two ultrasound transducers in opposite sides to inspect the calcaneus region of the patient. We have used two pairs of transducers with 500 kHz and 1 MHz central frequencies. Each pair of transducers was fixed in the X-Y displacement system submerged in a small water tank with a support for the foot of the patient. The transmitter was excited with pulses of 400-600 kHz or 800-1200 kHz and the ultrasound waves propagating through the bone in the calcaneus region are received by the opposite transducer, amplified and acquired in a digital oscilloscope. The data are transferred to the microcomputer and the ultrasound attenuation and the ultrasound transmission velocity are determined. The system was tested in patients, selected from a group that had already been diagnosed using a DEXA equipment. The results showed that there is a decrease in the ultrasound transmission velocity and the ultrasound attenuation in osteoporotic patients when compared to healthy patients of the same sex and age group. The conclusion is that ultrasound attenuation and the transmission velocity in the calcaneus region may be used as parameters in the evaluation of osteoporosis using our new system.398227828

    Similar works