Influence of cancellous bone microstructure on ultrasonic attenuation: a theoretical prediction

Abstract Background Quantitative ultrasound has been used for the assessment of cancellous bone status. The attenuation mechanisms of cancellous bone, however, have not been well understood, because the microstructure of cancellous bone is significantly inhomogeneous and the interaction between ultrasound and the microstructure of cancellous bone is complex. In this study, a theoretical approach was applied to investigate the influence of the microstructure of cancellous bone on ultrasonic attenuation. Results The scattering from a trabecular cylinder was significantly angle dependent. The dependencies of the ultrasonic attenuation on frequency, scatterer size, and porosity were explored from the theoretical calculation. Prediction results showed that the ultrasonic attenuation increased with the increase of frequency and decreased linearly with the increase in porosity, and the broadband ultrasound attenuation decreased with the increase in porosity. All these predicted trends were consistent with published experimental data. In addition, our model successfully explained the principle of broadband ultrasound attenuation measurement (i.e., the attenuation over the frequency range 0.3–0.65 MHz was approximately linearly proportional to frequency) by considering the contributions of scattering and absorption to attenuation. Conclusion The proposed theoretical model may be a potentially valuable tool for understanding the interaction of ultrasound with cancellous bone.