12C-2 Improved Accuracy of Broadband Ultrasound Attenuation Measurement Using Phase Insensitive Detection: Results in 73 Women

Broadband ultrasonic attenuation (BUA) is a clinically-accepted measurement for diagnosis of osteoporosis. Typical clinical BUA measurements are performed with phase sensitive receivers and therefore can be affected by phase cancellation. In order to separate the effects of conventional attenuation (absorption plus scattering) from phase cancellation, BUA was measured on phantoms with acrylic wedge phase aberrators and on 73 women using both phase sensitive (PS) and phase insensitive (PI) reception. A clinical bone sonometer (GE Lunar Achilles Insight reg) with a two dimensional receiver array was used. PI BUA measurements on phantoms with acrylic wedge phase aberrators were found to be far more resistant to phase cancellation than PS BUA measurements. In data from 73 women, means and standard deviations for BUA measurements were 81.4 plusmn 21.4 dB/MHz (PS) and 67.2 plusmn 9.7 dB/MHz (PI).