Patent ID: 7862510

Claim:
A method of non-invasive and quantitative assessment of the status of a bone in a bony member in vivo for at least one of the quantities, bone-mineral density, bone mass, cortical thickness, cross-sectional area, medullar thickness, bone width, bone geometry, bone strength and bone fracture risk, comprising the steps of: (a) acoustically coupling a first transducer and a second transducer to nearby skin on opposite sides of said bony member; (b) generating an ultrasound signal and directing said ultrasound signal from said first transducer to said second transducer through said bony member to obtain at least one bone-oriented output signal; (c) processing said at least one bone-oriented output signal to obtain at least two net time delays, wherein one of said at least two net time delays comprises a difference between a first time delay Ï„ 1 for a first ultrasound wave to propagate through a portion of the bony member containing only soft tissue and a second time delay Ï„ 2 for a second ultrasound wave to propagate through a portion of the bony member containing soft tissue, a cortex of the bone and a medullary cavity of the bone and another of said at least two net time delays comprises a difference between said second time delay Ï„ 2 and a third time delay Ï„ 3 for a third ultrasound wave to propagate through a portion of said bony member containing soft tissue and said cortex of the bone without entering said medullary cavity; and (d) further processing said at least two net time delays, whereby an estimate of said at least one of the quantities, bone-mineral density, bone mass, cortical thickness, cross-sectional area, medullar thickness, bone width, bone geometry, bone strength and bone fracture risk, is obtained.