Characterization of bony tissues from ultrasonic backscattering using statistical models

To extensively characterize properties of bones by ultrasound, backscattered signals of bones, including both the tibia and the calcaneous in the ankle, were acquired from 45 osteoporosis patients (age of 70.4±7.3) and 25 healthy volunteers (age of 22.5±2.5). Per each subject, measurements were carried out on ten marked locations covering the whole tibia and ten different locations of the calcaneous using a 1 MHz central frequency ultrasound. Consistent results obtained from healthy and osteoporotic subjects indicate that the strength of backscattering is difficult to be applied to differentiate bones. On the other hand, statistical parameters acquired from both the cancellous of the tibia and the calcaneous of the healthy and osteoporotic were found reflecting a possibility for further applying these statistical parameters to characterize bones.