Clinical Devices for Bone Assessment

Although it has been over 30 years since the first recorded use of quantitative ultrasound (QUS) technology to predict bone strength, the field has not yet reached its maturity. Among several QUS technologies available to measure cortical or cancellous bone sites, at least some of them have demonstrated potential to predict fracture risk with an equivalent efficiency compared to X-ray densitometry techniques, and the advantages of being non-ionizing, inexpensive, portable, highly acceptable to patients and repeatable. In this Chapter, we review instrumental developments that have led to in vivo applications of bone QUS, emphasizing the developments occurred in the decade 2010-2020. While several proposals have been made for practical clinical use, there are various critical issues that still need to be addressed, such as quality control and standardization. On the other side, although still at an early stage of development, recent QUS approaches to assess bone quality factors seem promising. These include guided waves to assess mechanical and structural properties of long cortical bones or new QUS technologies adapted to measure the major fracture sites (hip and spine). New data acquisition and signal processing procedures are prone to reveal bone properties beyond bone mineral quantity and to provide a more accurate assessment of bone strength.