Frequency Specific Ultrasound Attenuation is Sensitive to Trabecular Bone Structure

This study investigated the efficacy of frequency modulated ultrasound attenuation in the assessment of the trabecular structural properties. Four frequency modulated signals were created to represent four frequency bands centered at 500 kHz, 900 kHz, 1.3 MHz and 1.7 MHz with the bandwidth of 400 kHz. Five 1-cm trabecular cubes were harvested from fresh bovine distal femur. The cubes underwent four steps of demineralization process to expand the sample size to 25 with the greater variations of the structural properties for the better correlation study. Pearson correlation study was performed between the ultrasound attenuation in four frequency bands and the trabecular structural properties. The results showed that correlations of frequency modulated ultrasound attenuation to the trabecular structural properties are dependent on frequency bands. The attenuation in proximal-distal orientation had the highest correlation to BV/TV (R² = 0.73, p < 0.001) and trabecular thickness (R² = 0.50, p < 0.001) at the frequency band centered at 1.7 MHz. It was equivalent in the four frequency bands in correlation to the trabecular number (average R² = 0.80, p < 0.001) and to the trabecular separation (average R² = 0.83, p < 0.001). The attenuation in anterio-posterial orientation had the highest correlation to BV/TV (R² = 0.80, p < 0.001) and trabecular thickness (R² = 0.71, p < 0.001) at the frequency band centered at 1.3 MHz. The attenuation in the first frequency band was the most sensitive to the trabecular number (R² = 0.71, p < 0.001) and trabecular separation (R² = 0.80, p < 0.001). No significant correlation was observed for the attenuation in medial-lateral orientation across the four frequency bands.