To investigate the relationship between ultrasonic backscatter and trabecular microstructure, ultrasonic backscatter measurements were performed on cylindrical bovine cancellous bone samples in vitro. The backscatter signals from different specimen angles were obtained by rotating the specimen at various central frequencies. The backscatter signal varied a lot as the specimen angle changed. The main trabecular alignment (MTA) orientation was estimated by the maximum of signal energy and integrated reflection coefficient, or the minor axis of fitted ellipse for apparent integrated backscatter and the backscattered spectrum centroid frequency versus specimen angle. The degree of anisotropy (DA) was estimated by the eccentricity of the fitted ellipse with highly significant correlations. The MTA orientation and DA value estimation method proposed in this study is useful for ultrasonic cancellous bone assessment.

Osteoporotic patients have a larger medullary cavity in their cancellous bone than healthy people. In this study, the effect of the medullary cavity on the two-wave phenomenon was experimentally investigated using a cancellous bone model and a radius bone model. In the cancellous bone model, with the increase in hole (medullary cavity) diameter, the amplitudes of the fast waves became smaller, whereas the amplitudes of the slow waves became larger. In the radius bone model, the fast wave overlapped with the circumferential wave. The slow wave became larger with increasing hole diameter. The analysis of the slow wave thus seems to be useful for the in vivo diagnosis of the degree of osteoporosis.

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