assessing the efficiency of ultrasound parameters in the detection of bone repair process

introduction: the low regeneration of bone in defective bones causes therapeutic problems. various strategies to assess the healing of bone defects have been used which they include histological and histo-chemical analysis in an invasive study. the purpose of this study was to determine the ultrasonic parameters of bone as a promising noninvasive technology for assessing bone repair process. materials and methods: a total of twenty seven newsland male rabbits being 4 month old were selected and a hole of 3 mm in diameter was bored in the mid region of their right tibia bone. after causing the injury to the right tibia the ultrasonic parameters including amplitude dependent speed of sound (ad-sos) and bone radial thickness were measured on the injured tibia and the normal one (left tibia) at different time intervals (1, 8 and 15 day group). the bone transmission time (btt) and ultrasonic bone profile index (ubpi) were estimated by ad-sos which is calculated based on fast wave amplitude, signal dynamic and thickness. the rabbits in each group were sacrificed and histology study was performed on the injured tibia. results: the results obtained from the histological sections in 1, 8 and 15 day post-injury, show ongoing normal healing process in the 8 and 15 day group. the bone repair was characterized by bone trabecular formation and osteoblast cell activity. the mean ad-sos parameter for the 1, 8, 15 day and normal bone was 2265, 2203, 2176 and 1990 m/s, respectively, suggesting a non-invasive measurement to assess bone repair process. the measured result was in agreement which the histological analysis (p-value<0.05 with anova analysis). discussion and conclusion: the findings suggest that ad-sos parameter might be suitable to assess the architectural quality of bone trabecular and repair process.