Bone densitometer and a method thereof
First Claim
1. An ultrasound based diagnostic device for the analysis of bone conditions in human oscalcis comprising:
- at least two ultrasonic transducers provided at opposite ends of a movable assembly in the main body;
a set of replaceable and disposable gel pads connected to the transducer assembly;
a removable foot pad coupled to the transducer assembly;
a computer processor; and
a signal processing and acquisition circuit;
wherein the two ultrasonic transducers are also operated as transmitter and reflector or as transceiver in different operating modes to provide ultrasonic signals to the signal processing and acquisition circuit to calculate four different diagnostic parameters from the received ultrasonic signals from the heel of a subject placed between the transducers against the gel pads, and wherein the device utilizes the diagnostic parameters to calculate thickness of squish of the gel pads and tissue thickness of the heel and the calculated information is provided to the computer processor to determine bone mineral density and bone characteristics of the human.
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Abstract
The present invention provides a system for improving the accuracy of the measurement of the osteoporosis condition of the human body parts especially bones using more than three parameters, viz., the broadband ultrasonic attenuation (BUA) quantity, the velocity of ultrasound (SOS) in the bone, the broadband ultrasonic back scattering (BUB) intensity, and the Width of received maximum (WORM) values are calculated from received ultrasound signals.
The accuracy of each measured diagnostic parameter is improved by measuring the tissue thickness and the squish amount in the coupling pad instead of assuming constant thickness for the tissue. The several operating modes of the device are controlled and the frequency and the timing of the emitted ultrasounds signals are adjusted by using a field programmable gate array. The error generated in the measurement of the bone mineral density due to the variation in the anatomy and the size of the foot, is removed by using a removable footpad. The present invention provides a mechanism to replace the gel pads easily. The generation of cross infection is prevented by using the disposable and replaceable coupling pads.
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Citations
19 Claims
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1. An ultrasound based diagnostic device for the analysis of bone conditions in human oscalcis comprising:
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at least two ultrasonic transducers provided at opposite ends of a movable assembly in the main body; a set of replaceable and disposable gel pads connected to the transducer assembly; a removable foot pad coupled to the transducer assembly; a computer processor; and a signal processing and acquisition circuit; wherein the two ultrasonic transducers are also operated as transmitter and reflector or as transceiver in different operating modes to provide ultrasonic signals to the signal processing and acquisition circuit to calculate four different diagnostic parameters from the received ultrasonic signals from the heel of a subject placed between the transducers against the gel pads, and wherein the device utilizes the diagnostic parameters to calculate thickness of squish of the gel pads and tissue thickness of the heel and the calculated information is provided to the computer processor to determine bone mineral density and bone characteristics of the human. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. Bone condition evaluating method for estimating osteoporosis using ultrasound based diagnostic device, comprising;
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a) moving at least two transducers provided at opposite ends of a moveable assembly towards each other or away from one another to accommodate a heel of a subject under diagnostic, the heel pressed between two gel pads; b) operating the two transducers as transmitter and receiver or as transceiver in different operating modes to transmit and receive ultrasonic signals from the heel of the subject under diagnosis; c) activating a signal processing circuit coupled to the transducer assembly to process scattered and reflected ultrasonic signals from the heel in addition to transmitted ultrasonic signals through the heel to calculate parameters including at least tissue thickness of the heel, thickness of squish of the gel pads, speed of sound (SOS), broadband ultrasonic attenuation (BUA) amount, broadband ultrasonic back scattering (BUB) amount and width of the received maximum (WORM) ultrasound signal; and d) providing the calculated parameters and the determined tissue thickness of the heel and squish of the gel pads to a computer processor to calculate bone mineral density and bone characteristics. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19)
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Specification