Ultrasound Characterization of Bone Demineralization Using a Support Vector Machine

Publication date: March 2018
Source:Ultrasound in Medicine & Biology, Volume 44, Issue 3
Author(s): Max Denis, Leighton Wan, Mostafa Fatemi, Azra Alizad
We propose an ultrasound-guided remote measurement technique, utilizing an acoustic radiation force beam as our excitation source and a receiving hydrophone, to assess non-invasively a bone's mechanical properties. Features, such as velocity, were extracted from the acoustic pressure received from the bone surface. The typical velocity of an intact bone (3540 m/s) was higher in comparison to that of a demineralized bone (2231 m/s). According to the receiver operating characteristic curve, the optimal velocity cutoff value of ≥3096 m/s yields 80% sensitivity and 82.61% specificity between intact and demineralized bone. Utilizing a support vector machine, the hours of bone demineralization were successfully classified with maximum accuracy >80% using 18% training data. The results indicate the potential application of our proposed technique and support vector machine for monitoring bone mechanical properties.



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