Dielectric characterization of diseased human trabecular bones at microwave frequency. (April 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Amin, Bilal; Shahzad, Atif; Farina, Laura; Parle, Eoin; McNamara, Laoise; O'Halloran, Martin; Elahi, Muhammad Adnan
• Is Part Of: Medical engineering & physics. Volume 78(2020)
• Page Start: 21
• Page End: 28
• Publication Date: 2020-04
• Subjects: Dielectric properties -- Bone volume fraction -- Osteoporosis -- Osteoarthritis -- Open-ended coaxial probe; Biomedical engineering -- Periodicals; Biomedical Engineering -- Periodicals; Physics -- Periodicals; Génie biomédical -- Périodiques; Biomedical engineering; Electronic journals; Periodicals; 610.28
• DOI: 10.1016/j.medengphy.2020.01.014
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1350-4533

Abstract

Highlights: The trabecular bone microarchitecture varies within each patient's femoral head. The dielectric properties vary within each patient's femoral head. The dielectric properties of bone from osteoporotic and osteoarthritis patients showed significant difference. A weak correlation exists between dielectric properties and bone volume fraction. Osteoporotic and osteoarthritis bones can be differentiated based on difference of dielectric properties. Abstract: The objective of this study is to determine whether in vitro dielectric properties of human trabecular bones, can distinguish between osteoporotic and osteoarthritis patients' bone samples. Specifically this study enlightens intra-patient variation of trabecular bone microarchitecture and dielectric properties, inter-disease comparison of bone dielectric properties, and finally establishes the correlation to traditional bone histomorphometry parameter (bone volume fraction) for diseased bone tissue. Bone cores were obtained from osteoporotic and osteoarthritis patients ( n = 12). These were scanned using microCT to examine bone volume fraction. An open-ended coaxial probe measurement technique was employed to measure dielectric properties over the 0.5 – 8.5 GHz frequency range. The dielectric properties of osteoarthritis patients are significantly higher than osteoporotic patients; with an increase of 41% and 45% for relative permittivity and conductivity respectively. The dielectric properties within each patient vary significantly, variation in relative permittivity and conductivity was found to be greater than 25% and 1.4% respectively. A weak correlation ( r = 0.5) is observed between relative permittivity and bone volume fraction. Osteoporotic and osteoarthritis bones can be differentiated based on difference of dielectric properties. Although these do not correlate strongly to bone volume fraction, it should be noted that bone volume fraction is a poor predictor of fracture risk. The dielectric properties of bones are found to be influenced by mineralization levels of bones. Therefore, dielectric properties of bones may have potential as a diagnostic measure of osteoporosis.