Ultrasound Wave Propagation in Disuse-Induced Osteoporosis

Trabecular bone is a poroelastic media that becomes significantly anisotropic with age and disuse. The current clinical gold standard to evaluate osteoporosis is DEXA, an X-ray based measurement that provides changes in mass density but cannot distinguish changes in anisotropy. In contrary to DEXA, ultrasound is sensitive to both, changes in mass density and microarchitecture. The goal of the current study was to integrate a poroelastic media approach into the analysis of ultrasound wave propagation in porous anisotropic bone. This approach is used to distinguish the relative contribution of the solid bone fraction and anisotropy from the acoustic wave measurements during bone loss.