Correct assessment of the bone healing process is required for the management of limb immobilization during the treatment of bone injuries, including fractures and defects. Although the monitoring of bone healing using ultrasound poses several advantages regarding cost and ionizing radiation exposure compared with other dominant imaging methods, such as radiography and computed tomography (CT), traditional ultrasound B-mode imaging lacks reliability and objectivity. However, the body structures can be quantitatively observed by ultrasound frequency-based methods, and therefore, the disadvantages of B-mode imaging can be overcome. In this study, we created a femoral bone hole model of a rat and observed the bone healing process using the quantitative ultrasound method and micro-CT, which provides a reliable assessment of the tissue microstructure of the bone. This study analyzed the correlation between these two assessments. The results revealed that the quantitative ultrasound measurements correlated with the CT measurements for rat bone healing. This ultrasound frequency-based method could have the potential to serve as a novel modality for quantitative monitoring of bone healing with the advantages of being less invasive and easily accessible.

中文翻译：

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用于骨愈合的基于超声频率的监测

在治疗骨损伤（包括骨折和缺损）期间，需要对骨愈合过程进行正确评估，以管理肢体固定。尽管与其他主要成像方法（如射线照相和计算机断层扫描 (CT)）相比，使用超声监测骨骼愈合在成本和电离辐射暴露方面具有几个优势，但传统的 B 型超声成像缺乏可靠性和客观性。然而，基于超声频率的方法可以定量观察身体结构，因此可以克服B模式成像的缺点。在这项研究中，我们创建了大鼠股骨骨孔模型，并使用定量超声方法和显微 CT 观察了骨骼愈合过程，这提供了对骨骼组织微观结构的可靠评估。本研究分析了这两种评估之间的相关性。结果表明，定量超声测量与大鼠骨愈合的 CT 测量相关。这种基于超声频率的方法有可能作为一种新型的骨愈合定量监测方式，其优点是侵入性较小且易于访问。