Patent ID: 11896426
Assignee: nan
Field: Medical technology (Instruments)
Classification: CPC A  G | IPC A  G

Claim 14:
15. A method of non-invasive and qualitative assessment of the status of bone tissue in a bony member within a living organism, comprising the steps of:
acoustically coupling a transducer to skin disposed over the bony member;
generating a first axial ultrasound signal from the transducer towards and into the bony member wherein portions of the first axial ultrasound signal travel along a longitudinal axis of the bony member in a first axial direction;
receiving first and second portions of the first axial ultrasound signal at a first pair of acoustic elements of the transducer after the first and second portions of the first axial ultrasound signal have exited the bony member and generating a first pair of axial output signals in response;
processing the first pair of axial output signals to obtain an axial transmission time delay;
generating a first radial ultrasound signal from the transducer towards and into the bony member wherein portions of the first radial ultrasound signal are reflected by the bony member in a direction away from the longitudinal axis of the bony member;
receiving first and second portions of the first radial ultrasound signal after reflection by the bony member and generating a pulse-echo output signal in response;
processing the pulse-echo output signal to obtain a pulse-echo time delay corresponding to a transit time for the first radial ultrasound signal to travel between a periosteum of the bony member and an endosteum of the bony member; and,
generating an estimate of a characteristic of the bone tissue responsive to the axial-transmission time delay and the pulse-echo time delay.