The Effect of Soft Tissue on the Propagation of Ultrasonic Guided Waves Through Long Bones

• Author / Creator

  Stieglitz, Lauren

• Guided waves have been successfully used to characterize long bone properties, however the layer of soft tissue covering bone must be considered for guided wave technology to be clinically viable. We analyzed the impact of soft tissue through in vitro experiments on a cortical bone plate with and without a soft tissue mimic, and in vivo experiments on human tibiae. Data was examined using time-frequency analysis and frequency-phase velocity spectra. The data consistently exhibits two distinctive wave packets of different velocities. Guided wave modes A1 and S1 are generated in the soft tissue-bone plate model in addition to A0 and S0 generated in the bone. The presence of soft tissue alters the guide wave energy distribution. Most of the guided wave energy is concentrate around 0.1 – 0.2 MHz. The same phenomena are observed in the in vivo data. The in vitro experiments were in agreement with theoretical predictions.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Guided wave
  • Cortical bone
  • Ultrasound
  • Lamb wave
  • Soft tissue

• Graduation date

  Fall 2011

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Science

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R3SH7T

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.