Equipment and method for calibration and quality assurance of an ultrasonic bone anaylsis apparatus

A method of calibrating an ultrasound bone analysis apparatus having a foot well and a plurality of transducer assemblies with a respective plurality of transducer pads, comprising the steps of:

• placing in the foot well a first phantom having an attenuation-versus-frequency profile that is substantially flat in a frequency range of between about 200 kHz and about 1000 kHz and a sound impedance that approximates that of soft human tissue;
• adjusting the plurality of transducer assemblies;
• transmitting through the first phantom via one of the plurality of transducer pads an ultrasound signal;
• receiving via another one of the plurality of transducer pads a signal that passed through the first phantom;
• and
• using the received signal that passed through the first phantom as a baseline for calculating a BUA.

A method of calibrating an ultrasound bone analysis apparatus having a foot well and a plurality of transducer assemblies with a respective plurality of transducer pads, comprising the steps of:

• placing in the foot well a phantom having an attenuation in a frequency range of between about 200 kHz and about 1000 kHz which approximates that of a human foot, including an attenuation-versus-frequency profile that is substantially linear in a frequency range of between about 200 kHz and about 600 kHz and is approximately 1 dB/MHz per mm;
• adjusting the plurality of transducer assemblies;
• transmitting through the phantom via one of the plurality of transducer pads an ultrasound signal;
• receiving via another one of the plurality of transducer pads a signal that passed through the phantom;
• and
• using the received signal that passed through the phantom to calibrate the apparatus for a BUA calculation.

A method of calibrating an ultrasound bone analysis apparatus having a foot well and a plurality of transducer assemblies with a respective plurality of transducer pads, comprising the steps of:

• placing in the foot well a phantom having a predetermined SOS that is substantially temperature-independent;
• adjusting the plurality of transducer assemblies;
• transmitting through the phantom via one of the plurality of transducer pads an ultrasound signal;
• receiving via another one of the plurality of transducer pads a signal that passed through the phantom;
• and
• using the received signal that passed through the phantom for at least one of determining and correcting a drift of the apparatus.

A method of calibrating an ultrasound bone analysis apparatus having a plurality of transducer assemblies with a respective plurality of transducers and a respective plurality of transducer pads, comprising the steps of:

• adjusting the plurality of transducer assemblies until the plurality of transducer pads are mutually in contact;
• transmitting an ultrasound signal through one of the plurality of transducers;
• and
• receiving a signal corresponding to the transmitted signal through another one of the plurality of transducers.

An apparatus for performing ultrasonic bone analysis comprising:

• a foot well assembly having a foot well for resting a patient's foot;
• a transducer drive mechanism including a plurality of transducer assemblies having a plurality of respective transducers and a plurality of respective coupling pads, at least one of the plurality of transducers supplying ultrasonic signals and at least another one of the plurality of transducers receiving ultrasonic signals corresponding to the transmitted signals, and the plurality of transducer assemblies being adjustable to respective positions such that the plurality of respective coupling pads are in mutual contact;
• and
• a controller for controlling the positioning of the plurality of transducer assemblies to achieve ultrasonic coupling, controlling the ultrasonic signals transmitted by at least the one of the plurality of transducers, performing calibration including calibrating a zero point of the apparatus, and performing quality assurance including at least one of determining and correcting a drift of the apparatus.