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Electromagnetic bone-assessment apparatus and method

  • US 5,782,763 A
  • Filed: 07/01/1997
  • Issued: 07/21/1998
  • Est. Priority Date: 06/01/1995
  • Status: Expired due to Fees
First Claim
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1. Apparatus for non-invasive quantitative evaluation of the status of bone tissue in vivo, as measured in a selected bony member of a living body and manifested through one or more of the quantities:

  • bone-mineral density, architecture, strength and fracture risk at a given time, said apparatus comprising;

    circuit means including a pair of spaced magnetic field coils wherein the spacing is adapted to receive the bony member to be analyzed and wherein said circuit means is a two-port electrical circuit,network analyzer means included in said circuit means for obtaining a set of three (3) inductively-determined two-port frequency-dependent bone-admittance functions when said circuit means includes said bony member;

    means for selectively using said pair of magnetic field coils and said network analyzer with a medium of known electrical and magnetic properties and path length to thereby establish a set of three (3) inductively-determined two-port frequency-dependent reference-admittance functions, and including means to store each of said reference-admittance functions, andmeans for comparatively evaluating said bone-admittance functions and reference-admittance functions, whereby to estimate one or more of the said quantities.

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