Ultrasonic evaluation of intact, healing and osteoporotic long bones

Abstract

Quantitative ultrasound (QUS) has been introduced in recent years for the comprehensive noninvasive and non-ionizing evaluation of bones. This paper presents a review of our research work of the last decade including experimental and computational studies for the ultrasonic assessment of fracture healing and osteoporosis. The axial transmission and the backscattering methods have been applied to investigate the variation of ultrasound velocity, the propagation of guided waves and the interaction of the complex scattering phenomena with bones. In the macrostructure level, computational models have been established mimicking healthy and pathologic bones, while the use of imaging modalities has opened new perspectives for the evaluation of the bone microstructure using QUS. In the nanostructure level, a deterministic hybrid model for bone healing and angiogenesis predictions under the presence of QUS has been established incorporating the spatiotemporal development of soft tissues, bone and the evolution of blood vessel network. The results reveal the promising monitoring potential of QUS and its positive impact on the acceleration of the bone healing process.

Computational modeling of long bones during the fracture healing process

“…Therefore, the study of the propagation of guided waves has attracted the interest of several research groups in order to investigate microstructural changes occurring at deeper bone layers in healthy and pathological bones(Foiret et al, 2014;Kilappa et al, 2014;Vavva et al, 2009). Ultrasonic axial transmission is widely applied along the axis of long bones such as the radius or tibia, while the through transmission and the backscattering methods have been used to a more limited extent and for different application sites(Potsika et al, 2016b).The through-transmission method has been also widely used to perform ultrasonic measurements in bone(Grimal et al., 2013; Rohrbach et al, 2013; Kaufman et al, 2007; Barbieri et al, 2011; Glinkowski and Gorecki, 2006). In this ultrasonic configuration, two transducers are placed in opposite directions and are mainly applied to the heel bone and at the distal radius.…”