Key points are not available for this paper at this time.
The assessment of bone mineral density (BMD) and bone microstructure is important in screening for various bone diseases. Dual x-ray absorptiometry is the most commonly used technique for evaluating BMD; however, alternatives are necessary due to the use of ionizing radiation and low resolution, the latter of which prevents obtaining information on bone microstructure. Quantitative ultrasound presents a potentially attractive alternative. The microstructure of porous media, such as cortical bone, influences the attenuation of ultrasound; as such, ultrasound attenuation can be used to obtain information about the microstructure of cortical bone. Different models and measurement methods may be used to estimate ultrasonic attenuation in a cortical bone. In this study, three different methods of measuring ultrasonic attenuation were used. Finite-difference time-domain simulations were conducted in maps mimicking cortical bone. Pore densities and pore size distributions in the bone matrix, as well as absorptive properties of the bone and porous matrices, were specified for all simulations. Attenuation was measured within the pulse bandwidth as a function of frequency using the independent scattering approximation (ISA), a cortical backscatter method (CortBS), and the reflections from the two surfaces of the cortical bone map. Excellent agreement was found between these three methods.
McCandless et al. (Fri,) studied this question.