Ultrasound speed in equine cortical bone: effects of orientation, density, porosity and temperature

Ultrasound speed, as measured by a transmission technique in equine cortical bone, was found to vary markedly with the direction of the ultrasound path through the bone. Using bone samples from the mid-site of the third metacarpus of 20 horses, the ultrasound speed was measured as 4125 m s-1 in the longitudinal direction, 3442 m s-1 in the circumferential or transverse direction, and 3428 m s-1 in the radial direction. These results confirm the anisotropic properties of compact bone. Ultrasound speed had a positive linear relationship when compared with bone specific gravity of cortical bone (r = 0.773, n = 35, p less than 0.0001), and an inverse linear relationship with porosity. Specific gravity has an inverse correlation with porosity (r = 0.857, n = 35, p less than 0.0001). Over the temperature range of 4-42 degrees C, ultrasound speed varied inversely according to temperature with a logarithmic function giving the best fit. These results have important implications for the clinical applications of ultrasound speed in assessing bone quality in racehorses and provide important basic information for the understanding of the passage of ultrasound through cortical bone, which has possible clinical applications in humans.