The affect of limb lengthening rate on the acoustic properties of bone regenerate

The last two decades have seen many advances in the area of limb lengthening and deformity correction. Much work has been dedicated to understanding the biology of the mechanisms involved in these processes. A major shortcoming of most studies is their inability to quantitatively assess the impact of various parameters on the quality of the new bone formed. The primary objective of this study is to demonstrate that such an analysis is possible with a scanning acoustic microscope (SAM). This technique will provide material property information about the newly formed bone regenerate on a microscopic level in terms of its acoustic impedance. The data presented here represents the information currently available in this ongoing study. At the time of this writing the data from eight animals was available for evaluation.