Backscatter techniques for ultrasonic bone assessment

Osteoporosis is a bone disease that affects hundreds of millions of people worldwide. The name osteoporosis literally means “porous bone” reflecting the changes in bone density and microstructure that lead to increased risk of fracture. Ultrasonic backscatter techniques have been proposed as a way to detect these changes. Backscatter measurements are performed by propagating ultrasonic pulses into bone and receiving signals returned from the porous interior of the tissue. Numerous backscatter techniques have been developed over the last two decades for ultrasonic bone assessment. This presentation reviews many of those techniques and compares their relative performance in a recent in vivo study using measurements at the femoral neck, a common location for osteoporotic fracture.