Preliminary Results of the Sunlight OmnisenseTM Bone Sonometer

Quantitative ultrasound systems to date have concentrated on single site measurements using transmission mode ultrasound. A new type of quantitative ultrasound system, the Omnisense^TM, has been developed (Sunlight Ltd) which is capable of measurements at multiple sites using shortest propagation time ultrasound technology and a hand held probe. This has enabled measurements of sites previously inaccessible using ultrasound. A preliminary evaluation of the recently upgraded Omnisense was made, assessing the in-vivo and in-vitro precision and the correlation of the distal radius and the mid shaft tibia with dual x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) measurements of the lumbar spine, neck of femur and total hip. The in-vitro precision was assessed by performing daily scans on a perspex phantom. A group of 20 subjects (8 male, 12 female, age 23-55, BMI 17-40) were measured 5 times each on the same day. Measurements were taken at the distal radius and mid shaft tibia with repositioning between measurements to evaluate the intra-operator in-vivo short term precision. Finally, a group of 40 subjects of varying osteoporotic status were measured on both the Omnisense and DXA. After correction for temperature variation the in-vitro CV was 0.03%. The in-vivo root mean square CV for the distal radius was 0.54% and the mid shaft tibia 0.58%. The correlation’s between the Omnisense speed of sound (SOS) measurements and DXA bone mineral density (BMD) are shown in the table.

In conclusion, the in-vitro precision demonstrates an extremely stable system, with the in-vivo short-term precision results also showing good precision. Only weak to fair correlation’s with DXA were found. This may be explained by the fact that SOS is a function of both the density and the elasticity of bone.