Patent ID: 8402829

Claim:
A device for determining an internal structure of a bone along a drilling path directed into the bone, the drilling path having an axis, the device comprising: a nozzle fluidically connected to a liquid reservoir for providing a liquid jet directed at the bone along the axis of the drilling path; an ultrasonic transducer aligned with the nozzle along the axis of the drilling path for generating ultrasonic waves through the liquid jet, wherein both said ultrasonic waves are emitted from said transducer and the liquid jet flows from the nozzle along the same axis of the drilling path, said transducer detecting received echoes of the ultrasonic waves traversing back through the jet to the transducer indicative of changes in a tissue along the ultrasonic propagation path, thereby causing an acoustical impedance in the bone characterizing changes in the structure of the bone along the drilling path; and an analyzer for interpreting the received echoes into meaningful information relating to the location of the structural changes along the path.