The acoustic properties of human femoral bone

The utility of scanning acoustic microscope (SAM) techniques in developing acoustic impedance maps of bone cross sections has been demonstrated experimentally. The relatively inexpensive acoustic scanner has a resolution suitable for detecting subtle local changes in acoustic impedance and, hence, elastic properties. For instance, the significantly lower C33 properties in the posterior region of the femoral sections were apparent when scanned. Furthermore, it was determined that there is a high correlation between local impedance values as determined by SAM techniques and transmission techniques. Thus, it is believed the SAM scans are providing accurate verifiable image data sets. The experiments also show great promise in retrieving accurate acoustic impedance maps from embedded specimens. This has great potential for assuring the material properties of histological specimens embedded in polymethyl methacrylate.