JPH09234200A - Diagnosis of bone by ultrasonic wave - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To facilitate determination of bone characteristics such as bone quantity and bone strength by radiating ultrasonic waves outputted from an ultrasonic transmitting part to a human bone to be transmitted, receiving the transmitted waves by an ultrasonic receiving part, and comparing an obtained diagnosis waveform with a reference waveform. SOLUTION: In making diagnosis of a bone, a forearm 8 is inserted between an ultrasonic transmitting part 2 and an ultrasonic receiving part 4, and a subject part of the fore arm 8 is tightly applied to sound impedance matching bodies 10 respectively provided on fore arm abutting part of the ultrasonic transmitting part 2 and the receiving part 4. In this condition, ultrasonic pulse waves S of a frequency of 5MHz or less, for example, are transmitted from the ultrasonic transmitting part 2 to be transmitted through a soft organization 9 through a flexible bone 3 to be received by the ultrasonic receiving part 4. A received transmitting wave signal is taken through a signal amplifier 5 into a computer 6, its diagnosis waveform is compared with a reference waveform, a condition of the human bone is diagnozed, and result of it is displayed in a display device 7.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for diagnosing bone by ultrasonic waves for obtaining information on bone properties (bone mass, bone strength, etc.).

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a conventional method for diagnosing the properties of bones in the human body, the bones are irradiated with X-rays and transmitted therethrough, and the amount of absorbed X-rays in the bones is measured to determine the surface density of the bones. When the bone surface density is low, the bone mass is small and the bone is easily broken. Therefore, the dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA or DX) is used to correlate with the degree of bone fracture due to osteoporosis.
A) Or, by irradiating the calcaneus or patella with ultrasonic waves and transmitting them, from the time required for the ultrasonic waves to transmit at that time,
Obtain the propagation velocity of the ultrasonic wave in the bone and the attenuation rate of the ultrasonic signal after transmission, estimate the Young's elastic modulus of the bone from the propagation velocity, associate it with the bone strength, and the attenuation rate depends on the trabecular structure of the sea bone At present, a method of estimating and correlating the bone mass from the bone surface density obtained by another DEXA diagnostic apparatus is considered to be used. In addition, a method of obtaining a bone hardness index called stiffness using the values of the propagation velocity and the attenuation rate has been proposed.

[0003]

However, there is a problem that the DEXA diagnostic apparatus used in the above method is large and expensive, and in this method, X
There is a problem of radiation exposure. Although the above method has been proposed in the past, it has not been generally used with high accuracy and widely, and the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus used for this ultrasonic method has a correlation with the DEXA diagnostic apparatus. Is being considered. Therefore, in the past, when diagnosing a bone, the bone volume (bone surface density) has been mainly obtained, and each information obtained by the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus is DEXA.
At present, it is considered to be trusted based on the fact that it has a correlation with the value measured by a diagnostic device.

As described above, conventionally, in order to diagnose a bone, the above-mentioned information about the bone amount and the bone strength is simultaneously obtained to predict a detailed bone structure such as whether or not the bone is simplified. It was difficult to easily judge the amount of bone mass, and in any case it could not be denied that it was halfway.

The present invention is characterized in that the above-mentioned conventional ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus is large and expensive, that the X-ray diagnostic apparatus has a problem of X-ray exposure, and that the bone characteristic of the diagnostic apparatus is characteristic. It was made to solve the drawbacks such as not being clear, and it is a method of diagnosing bone by ultrasonic waves that simplifies the process of determining bone properties such as bone mass and bone strength, and can improve reliability. Is intended to provide.

[0006]

The present invention uses ultrasonic waves to
The human bone including the cancellous bone as the measurement site is incident on the human bone and transmitted therethrough, the transmitted wave at that time is received as a diagnostic waveform, and this diagnostic waveform is compared with a standard waveform.

[0007]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION A first invention is that an ultrasonic wave output from an ultrasonic wave transmitting section is made incident on a human bone including a cancellous bone as a site to be measured and is transmitted therethrough, and a transmitted wave at that time is transmitted. Is received by the ultrasonic receiver, and the diagnostic waveform at that time is
The condition of the human bone is diagnosed based on the presence / absence of a difference as compared with a standard waveform.

A second aspect of the invention is that an ultrasonic wave output from an ultrasonic wave transmitting section is incident on a human bone including a cancellous bone as a measurement site and transmitted therethrough, and the transmitted wave at that time is ultrasonically received. The diagnostic waveform at that time is received by the computer, waveform-processed by a computer, compared with a standard waveform that has been similarly waveform-processed, and the condition of the human bone is diagnosed based on the presence or absence of a difference between them.

Here, the standard waveform is the following waveform. That is, the waveform of ultrasonic waves after irradiating human bones including cancellous bone and transmitting them is characterized by little variation in healthy people, but considering that it varies somewhat depending on race and region. A waveform obtained by obtaining a plurality of waveforms from a target population, averaging them by adding and averaging them, and obtaining a waveform as normal as possible.

Human bones including the cancellous bone include the radius of the forearm, the patella, the calcaneus, the femoral neck and the lumbar spine.

As the waveform of the ultrasonic wave, a short pulse-like sound pressure waveform having a relatively simple response and easy waveform discrimination is preferable.

Further, the comparison items of the standard waveform and the diagnostic waveform in the first aspect of the present invention include the number of zero crosses or the pulse width in the range of the time interval including the first wave and the second wave of both waveforms and the peak of both waveforms. Amplitude magnitude or the amplitude ratio between the first and second waves, the number of peaks in the time interval range including the first and second waves of both waveforms, the maximum value or pattern in the correlation function of both waveforms , and so on.

Here, the first wave and the second wave are, for example, as shown in FIG.
Alternatively, in FIG. 6, the waves indicated by reference numerals I and II, respectively, are the first and second arriving waves.

Then, one of the waveform processing by the computer in the second invention is a fast Fourier transform (Fa).
st Fourier Transform
n, hereafter referred to as FFT).

The degree of progression of osteoporosis such as bone structure and strength may be judged based on the frequency of the amplitude of the transmitted wave after the waveform processing or frequency analysis processing by the computer.

The determination can be made based on the frequency characteristic of the phase instead of the frequency of the amplitude of the transmitted wave.

Regarding the frequency characteristic of the amplitude of the transmitted wave and the frequency characteristic of the phase of the transmitted wave, the data at the frequency at which a difference between the data of the healthy person and the data of the patient is seen is two-dimensionally plotted. Alternatively, the determination may be performed.

Further, when performing the above-mentioned measurement, it is preferable that air is not interposed between the site to be measured and the ultrasonic wave transmitting portion and the ultrasonic wave receiving portion. For example, a. The measurement site is brought into close contact with the ultrasonic wave transmitting unit and the ultrasonic wave receiving unit in a state of being brought into close contact with a stretchable bag (bolus) containing water or a matching liquid prepared by mixing water and glycerin. b. A gel-like (or jelly-like) substance is applied to the site to be measured, and in that state, the substance is brought into close contact with the ultrasonic wave transmitter and the ultrasonic wave receiver. c. With the water-containing polymer, silicon pad, etc. in close contact with the measurement site, the ultrasonic transmitter and ultrasonic receiver are closely contacted. d. The site to be measured is placed in water in which the ultrasonic transmitter and the ultrasonic receiver are installed in advance. It is better to do something like this.

[0019]

Embodiments will be described with reference to the drawings. First, FIG. 1 shows an example of the configuration of an apparatus for carrying out the method for diagnosing bone by ultrasonic waves according to the first invention. In this figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a pulse transmission unit, which may include a pulse amplification unit. Reference numeral 2 denotes an ultrasonic transmitting unit that receives a pulse output from the pulse transmitting unit 1 and causes a pulse-shaped ultrasonic wave S having a narrow pulse width to be incident on the DUT 3, and 4 receives a transmitted wave transmitted through the DUT 3. This is an ultrasonic receiving unit that performs the operation. Reference numeral 5 denotes a signal amplifier that appropriately amplifies the output of the ultrasonic receiving unit 4, reference numeral 6 denotes a computer as an arithmetic processing unit that performs waveform processing and calculation of a transmitted wave, and reference numeral 7 denotes a display device.

Here, the ultrasonic wave S is 5 MHz.
A pulse wave that includes many of the following frequency components and has a wide bandwidth and an appropriate waveform is selected. The object 3 is preferably a bone including trabecular bone, such as the radius of the forearm, the patella, the calcaneus, the neck of the femur and the lumbar vertebra. And Accordingly, reference numeral 8 denotes a forearm, and reference numeral 9 denotes soft tissue around the radius 3.

When the measurement is performed using the measuring device having the above-mentioned configuration, the forearm contact portion of the ultrasonic wave transmitting portion 2 and the forearm contact portion of the ultrasonic wave receiving portion 4 are connected to the measurement site (radius 3) of the forearm 8. Sound that contains water, or a matching liquid in which water and glycerin are mixed at an appropriate ratio, in an expandable bag, rather than directly contacting the existing part (where appropriate between the wrist and elbow) The impedance matching body 10 is detachably attached to the forearm abutting portion, and the acoustic impedance matching body 10 is brought into close contact with the measurement site, and thus the measurement site and the ultrasonic wave transmitting unit 2 and the ultrasonic wave receiving unit 4 are connected. It is preferable that no air is interposed between them.

The reason for doing this is as follows. That is, at the time of measurement, the measurement site and the ultrasonic transmission unit 2
If an air layer is formed between the ultrasonic wave and the ultrasonic receiving unit 4, the ultrasonic wave S enters the forearm 8 from the air layer, or enters the forearm 8 and transmits through the radius 3 ( When a transmitted wave) enters the air layer from the forearm 8, the acoustic impedance changes at the boundary between the forearm 8 and the air layer. In such a portion, the ultrasonic wave S is reflected, and the ultrasonic wave is received by the ultrasonic receiving unit 4. This is because a reflected signal is mixed with the received signal or the signal is significantly attenuated, which becomes an interference wave and adversely affects the measurement accuracy.

As a method of eliminating the influence of the change in the acoustic impedance, a gel-like (or jelly-like) substance is applied to the measurement site in addition to the acoustic impedance matching body 10 and ultrasonic waves are transmitted in that state. Part 2 and ultrasonic wave receiving part 4 or, in a state where a water-containing polymer, a silicon pad or the like is brought into close contact with the part to be measured, close contact with ultrasonic wave sending part 2 and ultrasonic wave receiving part 4, or to be measured There is a method such as putting the part in water in which the ultrasonic wave transmitting unit 2 and the ultrasonic wave receiving unit 4 are installed in advance. Regarding these techniques, the applicant of the present invention filed a patent application on April 11, 1995, entitled "Ultrasonic Bone Diagnosis Method and Apparatus" (Japanese Patent Application No. 7-11130).
No. 2).

In order to diagnose a bone using the diagnostic device having the above-mentioned configuration, the forearm 8 is inserted between the ultrasonic wave transmitting section 2 and the ultrasonic wave receiving section 4, and the ultrasonic wave transmitting section 2 and the ultrasonic wave receiving section are received. The acoustic impedance matching bodies 10 respectively provided on the forearm contact portions of the portion 4 are brought into close contact with the measurement site of the forearm 8. In this state, the ultrasonic transmitter 2 emits a pulsed ultrasonic wave S having a frequency of, for example, 5 MHz or less. This ultrasonic wave S enters the forearm 8 through the acoustic impedance matching body 10 on the ultrasonic wave transmitting portion 2 side, passes through the soft tissue 9 and the radius 3, and the transmitted wave passes through the soft tissue 9 and the forearm. 8 and is received by the ultrasonic wave receiving unit 4 via the acoustic impedance matching body 10 on the ultrasonic wave receiving unit 5 side.

The transmitted wave signal received by the ultrasonic wave receiving section 4 is amplified by the signal amplifier 5 to have a required amplitude, and then taken into the computer 6. Then, waveform processing and calculation are performed in this computer 6 by an appropriate method to determine the property of the radius 3 which is the object to be measured, for example, a value representing the bone mass and / or bone quality in the cancellous bone, and whether it is osteoporosis. It is determined whether or not they are displayed on the screen of the display device 7 or stored in an appropriate memory device (not shown).

Next, an example of waveform processing and calculation in the computer 6 will be described in detail with reference to FIG.

First, a plurality of healthy persons are diagnosed by using the above apparatus, and a standard waveform is created in advance. That is,
An ultrasonic wave S is incident on the radius 3 of a healthy person, the transmitted wave at that time is received by the ultrasonic wave reception unit 4, and a plurality of waveforms obtained at that time are averaged to obtain a standard waveform. To do.

2 and 3 each show an example of the waveform of the ultrasonic wave S incident on the radius 3, and the waveform a shown in FIG. 2 is generated by applying a voltage of a raised cosine wave. The waveform b shown in FIG. 3 is generated by applying a step wave voltage.

Further, FIG. 4 and FIG.
Waveforms a _s and b _s created by averaging the waveforms obtained when the a waveform and the b waveform are incident on the radius 3 of the males aged 23 to 23 with an averaging process.
It is.

In the actual diagnosis, ultrasonic waves S are incident on the radius 3 of the subject, and the diagnostic waveform obtained at that time is compared with the standard waveform a _s or b _s . In this case, not only the shapes of the two waveforms are simply compared but also the number of zero crosses or the pulse width in the range of the time interval including the first wave and the second wave of the two waveforms, the magnitude of the peak amplitude of the two waveforms or the first waveform The amplitude ratio between the wave and the second wave, the number of peaks in the range of the time interval including the first wave and the second wave of both waveforms, the maximum value or the pattern in the correlation function of both waveforms, and the like. The bone condition of the subject is diagnosed based on the presence or absence of a difference and the magnitude of the difference.

Then, eight female subjects (55 to 75 years old)
A) using the a waveform and the b waveform as the oscillating waves, and diagnostic waveforms were collected. 6 to 13
Is a diagnostic waveform obtained when the oscillation wave is a waveform,
It shows with numerals A1-A8. Further, FIGS. 14 to 21 are diagnostic waveforms obtained when the oscillating wave is the b waveform, which is denoted by reference numeral B1.
~ B8. That is, FIG. 6 (A1) and FIG. 14 (B
1) shows the diagnostic waveform of the same subject, and is shown in FIG.
2) and FIG. 15 (B2), FIG. 8 (A3) and FIG. 16 (B
3), FIG. 9 (A4) and FIG. 17 (B4), FIG. 10 (A5)
18 (B5), FIG. 11 (A6) and FIG. 19 (B6),
FIG. 12 (A7) and FIG. 20 (B7), FIG. 13 (A8) and FIG. 21 (B8) respectively show the diagnostic waveform of the same subject.

In the standard waveforms a _s and b _s and the diagnostic waveforms A1 to A8 and B1 to B8, how many peaks (peaks or valleys) are present within a certain time (length) from the first peak.
I checked if there is. That is, as shown in FIG. 4, for example, within a certain time T (for example, 5 μsec) from the first peak.
The number of peaks in the range (1) is counted, and the number is four in the standard waveform a _s shown in FIG. 5 to 21
The respective waveforms shown in Table 1 were counted in the same manner, and the count results are summarized in Tables 1 and 2 below.

[0033]

[Table 1]

[0034]

[Table 2]

In Tables 1 and 2, the waveforms A1 ...
A8 and B1 to B8 are respectively from eight female subjects, and these subjects are all patients with osteoporosis who were separately diagnosed by DEXA.

In Table 1, which shows the result of using the waveform a as the oscillating wave, the standard waveform a of a healthy person is shown.
_{In s} , the number of peaks is 4, whereas in waveforms A1 to A8, which are patients, 5 to 11 peaks, which are all 4
Greater than. Further, in Table 2, which shows the result using the b-shaped wave as the oscillating wave, the standard waveform b _s of a healthy person is shown.
In Fig. 3, the number of peaks is 3, whereas in waveforms B1 to B8 which are patients, 5 to 8 peaks, which are all larger than 3.

That is, by comparing the number of peaks in a specific time of the diagnostic waveform with the number of peaks in a specific time of the standard waveform, the bone condition of the subject can be diagnosed, It is possible to determine whether or not the patient has osteoporosis, and it is possible to further predict that the bone structure is simplified.

By the way, the larger the number of peaks within a specific time, the narrower the width at the peak or valley. That is, instead of counting the number of peaks, the pulse widths within a specific time may be compared.

The amplitude of the peak of the standard waveform and the diagnostic waveform or the first wave (for example, FIG. 4 or FIG. 6).
, And the second wave (shown in FIG. 4 or FIG. 6).
In the above, the amplitude ratio may be compared with that of the symbol II).

Further, the correlation function between the standard waveform and the diagnostic waveform may be obtained and the maximum value or pattern may be compared.

In the method for diagnosing bone by ultrasonic waves according to the first aspect of the invention, the contents of the comparison items are clear, and therefore the bone properties can be easily and accurately determined.

In the above-mentioned first invention, the ultrasonic wave S is incident on the human bone 3 including the cancellous bone as the site to be measured and transmitted therethrough, and the transmitted wave at that time is obtained as a diagnostic waveform, and this diagnosis is carried out. The waveform is compared with the standard waveform in terms of shape, and the condition of the human bone is diagnosed based on the presence or absence of the difference between them. However, the propagation waveform in the human bone 3 is analyzed and quantitative parameters are used. It is also possible to diagnose the condition of human bones. Hereinafter, this will be described as a second invention.

The apparatus shown in FIG. 1 is also used when carrying out the ultrasonic diagnostic method for bone according to the second aspect of the invention. FIG.
2 shows an example of the waveform of the ultrasonic wave S used in the diagnostic method of the second invention, and the waveform c shown in FIG. 22 is generated by applying the voltage of a raised cosine wave.

23 to 25, the radius 3 of three subjects (healthy person N, mild osteoporosis patient X, severe osteoporosis patient Y) is irradiated with ultrasonic waves S shown in FIG. 22 at that time. The waveform of the obtained transmitted wave is shown. These test subjects N, X, and Y were all separately diagnosed by DEXA. FIG. 23 shows a transmitted wave of a healthy person N, FIG. 24 shows a transmitted wave of a mild patient X, and FIG. 25 shows a severe patient. Each of the Y transmitted waves is shown. Then, each transmitted wave is subjected to FFT processing in the computer 6.

FIG. 26 shows the ultrasonic wave S used in this measurement.
Shows the amplitude characteristic of the input waveform, and shows a peak between 100 kHz and 2 MHz with the maximum at about 800 kHz.

FIG. 27 shows the transmitted waves of the three subjects as F
It shows the amplitude characteristic of the bone propagation waveform obtained by FT processing, and the symbols N, X, and Y in the figure correspond to the healthy subject N, the mild patient X, and the severe patient Y, respectively. FIG. 2
6 and FIG. 27, the horizontal axis represents frequency in logarithmic form and the vertical axis represents intensity.

The following can be seen from FIG. That is,
In the characteristic of the healthy person N, the peak is reached at 300 kHz, and the peak is deviated to the low frequency side by about 500 kHz as compared with the characteristic of the input wave shown in FIG. 26, and the attenuation is large for the high frequency around 800 kHz. It is shown that.

The peak of the characteristic of the patient X is near 300 kHz, and it can be seen that the attenuation is large for high frequencies as compared with the characteristic of the input wave. On the other hand, it can be seen that the attenuation for high frequencies is slightly smaller than that of the healthy person N.

Further, in the characteristics of the severe patient Y, 200 k
There is a peak y _{1 at} about Hz and 50
There is a maximum peak y _{2 at} around 0 kHz. Comparing this characteristic with the characteristic of the input wave, 100k
In the portion below Hz, it has almost the same value as the characteristic of the input wave. Then, it can be seen that the attenuation at the portion of 500 kHz is larger than that of the input wave characteristic, but the transmittance for the high frequency is clearly higher than that of the characteristic of the patient X which is mild. As a result, in the characteristic of the severe patient Y, two peaks y ₁ and y ₂ which are difficult to distinguish in the healthy person N can be clearly discriminated (bimodal).

By the way, as the symptoms of osteoporosis progress, the inventors have separated the transmitted wave into a high-speed wave containing many low-frequency components and a low-speed wave containing many high-frequency components. "Bone ultrasonic diagnostic method and bone diagnostic device" filed on March 30th [Patent application 5
-270018 (JP-A-7-100136)], in consideration of this, 3
The characteristics near 00 kHz represent the characteristics of high-speed waves, and 500 kHz
It is considered that the characteristics near Hz represent the characteristics of the slow wave.

Further, as a result of the amplitude characteristics shown in FIG. 27 and the frequency analysis of the transmitted wave of the osteoporosis patient, the osteoporosis patients X and Y are shown.
It can be seen that in the case of, the attenuation of the high frequency component tends to be less than that of the healthy person N. Therefore, it is also possible to use the attenuation rate of the high-frequency component and / or the low-frequency component as a parameter to make an osteoporosis diagnosis algorithm.

Next, when the frequency characteristic of the phase of the transmitted wave was obtained with reference to the phase of the input waveform, the characteristic as shown in FIG. 28 was obtained. In this figure, the horizontal axis represents the logarithmic frequency, and the vertical axis represents the phase relative value.

The following can be seen from FIG. The characteristic of the healthy person N is almost flat on the lower frequency side than 100 kHz, and has a phase of about −80 °. And
It sharply rises above 600 kHz.

On the other hand, the characteristics of the mild patient X and the severe patient Y are similar to each other, and 10
It becomes flat on the low frequency side below 0 kHz, and is about -20
The phase is °, and this value is larger than that of the healthy person N. Then, on the higher frequency side than 600 kHz, the change is almost the same as that of the healthy person N.

That is, regarding the frequency characteristics of the phase of the transmitted wave, both the characteristics of the patients X and Y are close to the characteristics of the healthy person N in the high frequency region, but both the characteristics of the patients X and Y are small in the low frequency region. I understand.

By the way, according to the research conducted by the inventors, it is known that when the trabecular structure has a one-way arrangement, the transmitted waveform is separated into two waves, a low-speed wave and a high-speed wave. When taken into consideration, it is estimated that the phase characteristics at low frequencies change. Further, the phase around 100 kHz can be used as a parameter representing the structural change of the trabecular bone.

Then, a method for quantitatively measuring the degree of progression of osteoporosis using both the frequency characteristics of the amplitude and the frequency characteristics of the phase was examined. Hereinafter, this will be described in detail.

The characteristic values of the subjects N, X, and Y at the peak frequency α (500 kHz in this example) of the characteristic of the severe patient Y in the frequency characteristic of the amplitude shown in FIG. 27 are shown in FIG. The frequency characteristics of the phase, especially the healthy person N
And patient X, Y the frequency β (10 in this example)
The phase of each subject N, X, Y at 0 kHz) was two-dimensionally displayed to obtain FIG.

The following can be seen from FIG. Healthy person N (indicated by a circle in the figure) and patients X and Y (in the figure, x)
(Indicated by a mark and a triangle) are plotted at different positions,
When a plurality of samples are plotted for each of these, the distribution state is clearly different between the healthy person N and the patients X and Y, and they are divided into a healthy person group and a patient group. An alternate long and short dash line U in the figure is an approximate boundary of the distribution between the healthy subject group and the patient group.

As described above, according to the ultrasonic bone diagnosing method of the second aspect of the present invention, the condition of human bone can be diagnosed by using quantitative parameters, and osteoporosis which is difficult by the conventional method. The degree of progression of can be quantitatively diagnosed. In this second invention, frequency analysis other than FFT processing may be used.

In the first and second inventions described above, the frequency of the input ultrasonic wave S is 100 kHz.
Z-5 MHz is preferable. This is because the difference between the healthy person and the patient can be more clearly understood when the ultrasonic wave S having a frequency in this range is used.

Further, the ultrasonic wave S may be generated using a pulse wave containing a required frequency instead of the raised cosine wave.

[0063]

As described above, according to the first and second inventions, it is possible to easily and accurately determine whether or not the patient has osteoporosis. And we can also predict that the bone structure is simplified. In addition, there is a possibility that the structural characteristics of the bone can be recognized, and the relationship with osteoporosis can be accurately grasped.

In particular, according to the second invention, there is an advantage that it is possible to quantitatively diagnose the degree of progression of osteoporosis, which was difficult with the conventional method.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically showing an apparatus for carrying out a method for diagnosing bone by ultrasonic waves according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a waveform diagram showing an example of a waveform of an ultrasonic wave used in the diagnostic method.

FIG. 3 is a waveform diagram showing another example of the waveform of ultrasonic waves used in the diagnostic method.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a standard waveform used in the diagnosis method.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing another example of standard waveforms used in the diagnosis method.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a diagnostic waveform.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a diagnostic waveform.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of a diagnostic waveform.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of a diagnostic waveform.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a diagnostic waveform.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of a diagnostic waveform.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an example of a diagnostic waveform.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a diagnostic waveform.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing an example of a diagnostic waveform.

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing an example of a diagnostic waveform.

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing an example of a diagnostic waveform.

FIG. 17 is a diagram showing an example of a diagnostic waveform.

FIG. 18 is a diagram showing an example of a diagnostic waveform.

FIG. 19 is a diagram showing an example of a diagnostic waveform.

FIG. 20 is a diagram showing an example of a diagnostic waveform.

FIG. 21 is a diagram showing an example of a diagnostic waveform.

FIG. 22 is a diagram showing an example of the waveform of ultrasonic waves used in the diagnostic method of the second invention.

FIG. 23 is a diagram showing an example of a transmitted wave of a healthy person.

FIG. 24 is a diagram showing an example of a transmitted wave of a mild patient.

FIG. 25 is a diagram showing an example of a transmitted wave of a severe patient.

FIG. 26 is a diagram showing amplitude characteristics of an input waveform of an ultrasonic wave S.

FIG. 27 is a diagram showing frequency characteristics of the amplitude of a transmitted wave in each subject.

FIG. 28 is a diagram showing frequency characteristics of a phase of a transmitted wave in each subject when an incident wave is used as a reference.

FIG. 29 shows the phase relative value at the frequency β in the frequency characteristic of the phase of the transmitted wave in each subject on the horizontal axis, and shows the value of the frequency characteristic at the frequency α in the frequency characteristic of the amplitude of the transmitted wave in each subject in the vertical direction. It is the plot which took the axis.

[Explanation of symbols]

2 ... Ultrasonic wave transmitting section, 3 ... Human bone including cancellous bone, 4 ... Ultrasonic wave receiving section, 6 ... Computer, S ... Ultrasonic wave, a _s , b _s ...
Standard waveform.

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Haruyoshi Hirata 2 Higashimachi, Kichijoin Miya, Minami-ku, Kyoto-shi, Kyoto

Claims (11)

[Claims] 1. An ultrasonic wave output from an ultrasonic wave transmitting unit,
It is incident on human bones including cancellous bones as the site to be measured and transmitted therethrough, and the transmitted wave at that time is received by the ultrasonic wave reception unit, and the diagnostic waveform at that time is compared with the standard waveform to determine whether there is a difference. A method for diagnosing a bone by ultrasonic waves, which comprises diagnosing a condition of a human bone based on the above. 2. The ultrasonic wave according to claim 1, wherein the comparison item between the standard waveform and the diagnostic waveform is the number of zero crosses or the pulse width in the range of the time interval including the first wave and the second wave of these waveforms. How to diagnose bone. 3. The bone according to claim 1, wherein the comparison item between the standard waveform and the diagnostic waveform is the magnitude of the amplitude of the peaks of these waveforms or the amplitude ratio between the first wave and the second wave. Diagnostic method. 4. The ultrasonic bone according to claim 1, wherein the comparison item between the standard waveform and the diagnostic waveform is the number of peaks in the range of the time interval including the first wave and the second wave of these waveforms. Diagnostic method. 5. The correlation function between the standard waveform and the diagnostic waveform is calculated, and the maximum value or the pattern is used for discrimination.
The method for diagnosing bone using ultrasonic waves according to [4]. 6. The ultrasonic wave output from the ultrasonic wave transmitting section,
It is incident on human bones including cancellous bones as the measurement site, transmits it, and the transmitted wave at that time is received by the ultrasonic wave reception unit, and the diagnostic waveform at that time is processed by the computer and processed in the same manner. A method for diagnosing a bone by ultrasonic waves, which comprises diagnosing a condition of a human bone based on the presence or absence of a difference between the standard waveform and the standard waveform. 7. The method for diagnosing bone by ultrasonic waves according to claim 6, wherein the waveform processing by the computer is frequency analysis. 8. The method for diagnosing bone by ultrasonic waves according to claim 6, wherein an osteoporosis diagnosis algorithm is used with the attenuation rate of the high frequency component and / or the low frequency component as a parameter. 9. The ultrasonic bone diagnosing method according to claim 6, wherein the comparison item between the standard waveform and the diagnostic waveform is the frequency characteristic of the amplitude of the transmitted wave. 10. The method for diagnosing bone by ultrasonic waves according to claim 6, wherein the comparison item between the standard waveform and the diagnostic waveform is the frequency characteristic of the phase of the transmitted wave. 11. Regarding the frequency characteristic of the amplitude of the transmitted wave and the frequency characteristic of the phase of the transmitted wave, the data at the frequency at which the difference between the data of the healthy person and the data of the patient can be seen is two-dimensionally plotted. The method for diagnosing bone by ultrasonic wave according to claim 6 or 7.