title: Influence of bone quality on precision of calcaneal ultrasonometry.
abstract: This study was designed to determine the changes in precision of the ultrasound parameters speed of sound (SOS), broadband ultrasound attenuation (BUA), and stiffness index (SI) as a function of bone quality. The instrument used in this investigation was the LUNAR Achilles. Of the 608 female patients who had paired measurements with repositioning, 200 had t scores >/=-1 and 408 had t scores </=-2.5, thus rendering a normal and a grossly abnormal group for comparison of precision results. It was found that the median precision error (CV%) for BUA was 1.99% for normal bone and 1.44% for abnormal bone (P = 0.02). No significant difference was obtained between median precision errors in normal and abnormal bone for the parameters SOS and SI, which were 0.23% and 0.19%, and 2.15% and 2.02%, respectively. In the interquartile range, the mean precision errors for SOS and BUA were significantly different in normal and abnormal bone: SOS was 0.25% and 0.21%, respectively, and BUA was 2. 31% and 1.85%, respectively. No significant change was registered for SI. Precision error appears to decrease slightly at lower values for calcaneal variables.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine, The Montreal General Hospital, McGill University, 1650 Cedar Avenue, Montreal, Canada H3G 1A4.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Rosenthall
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002111:Calcaneus / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D014463:Ultrasonography