Axial transmission assessment of trabecular bone at distal radius using guided wave

The diagnosis of osteoporosis at skeletal sites composed mainly of trabecular bone, such as distal radius, can be considered clinically more relevant then cortical bone regions. Thus, the possibility to merge the potential of guided waves method to the clinical relevance of trabecular bone assessment is extremely motivating and has not yet been explored in details. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to investigate the feasibility of guided waves method to detect variation in the mechanical properties of trabecular bone at the distal radius using axial transmission. Due to the complexity of the distal region, three-dimensional finite elements simulations were performed using a bone model built from a computed tomography image of a human radius. The accuracy of the numerical model was experimentally validated using a bone phantom. The simulated excitation was transmitted to the radius using a longitudinal load applied to a small circular region at the extremity of distal radius. The identification of the guided waves was evaluated using 2DFFT transform. The results showed that the excitation imposed at the extremity of the distal radius creates guided waves that propagate along the long bone. Furthermore, the identified modes showed high sensitivity to the trabecular bone properties.