Osteoporosis detection in postmenopausal women using axial transmission multi-frequency bone ultrasonometer: clinical...

The objective of this study was to evaluate if the Bone UltraSonic Scanner (BUSS) can detect osteoporosis in postmenopausal women. BUSS is an axial transmission multi-frequency ultrasonometer for acquisition of wave propagation profiles along the proximal anterior tibia. We derived 10 diagnostically significant BUSS parameters that were then compared with the DXA spine T-score, which was used in this study as the "gold standard" for the assessment of osteoporosis (T-score<-2.5). BUSS wave parameters were studied in 331 postmenopausal women examined by 9 trained operators at 3 clinical sites with use of 3 devices. The efficiency of each BUSS parameter in osteoporosis detection was assessed using a receiver operating characteristic curve analysis. Area under the curve (AUC) for each of 10 parameters ranged from 58.1% to 70.2%. Using these parameters a linear classifier was derived which provided at its output 83.0% AUC, 87.7% sensitivity and 63.2% specificity to DXA-identified osteoporosis. The results of this study confirm BUSS's capability to detect osteoporosis in postmenopausal women.