Ultrasound monitoring of the setting of calcium-based bone cements

In this study, the setting of calcium-sulphate (CS) and -phosphate (CP) based bone cements (BCs) was monitored by ultrasound. The objective was to link acoustic and material properties of ceramic-based BCs from the early stages of the cement curing process. The powder phase of the CS-cement consisted of CS hemihydrate; the CP-cement was a mixture of alpha-tricalcium phosphate, CS dihydrate and hydroxyapatite. For the CS-cement, the acoustic impedance z (c)(t), the speed of sound c (c)(t) and the density ρ(c)(t) were measured at the interval of liquid-to-powder ratios LPRs from 0.20 to 3.00 ml/g. For the CP-cement, the acoustic characteristics obtained were the z (c)(t) and the reflection coefficient R (p,c)(t), and the LPRs ranged from 0.30 to 0.40 ml/g. The resulting acoustic properties indicated that CP- and CS-cements exhibited distinctly different curing behaviour; while CS-cement expanded, CP-cement shrank with time.