Correlations between ultrasonic guided wave velocities and bone properties in bovine tibia in vitro.

Correlations between ultrasonic guided wave velocities and bone properties were investigated in bovine tibia in vitro. The velocities of the first arriving signal and the slow guided wave, termed V(FAS) and V(SGW), along the long axis of the tibia were measured at 200 kHz in 20 bovine tibiae using the axial transmission technique. V(FAS) yielded significant negative correlation coefficients of -0.54 to -0.66 with the bone properties. In contrast, V(SGW) yielded strong positive correlation coefficients of 0.68-0.84. The best univariate predictor of V(FAS) and V(SGW) was the cortical thickness yielding adjusted squared correlation coefficients of 0.41 and 0.69, respectively.