Patent ID: 8202219

Claim:
A method of non-invasive and quantitative assessment of the status of bone tissue in a bony member in vivo for at least one of the quantities, bone-mineral density, bone strength, bone fracture risk, bone architecture and bone quality comprising the steps of: acoustically coupling a first transducer and a second transducer to nearby skin on opposite sides of said bony member; measuring a distance between said first transducer and said second transducer; generating an ultrasound signal and directing said ultrasound signal from said first transducer to said second transducer through said bone tissue to obtain a bone-oriented output signal; processing said bone-oriented output signal and said distance, whereby an estimate of at least one of a net time delay parameter and a mean time duration parameter is obtained, said net time delay parameter determined responsive to a comparison between a time for said ultrasound signal to travel between said first and second transducers and an estimated time for said ultrasound signal to travel through soft tissue over said distance and said mean time duration parameter determined responsive to a time span of a predetermined portion of said bone-oriented output signal; and further processing said at least one of said net time delay parameter and said mean time duration parameter, whereby an estimate of said at least one of the quantities, bone-mineral density, bone strength, bone fracture risk, bone architecture and bone quality is obtained.