Correlation between ultrasound velocity and densitometry in fresh and demineralized cortical bone.

Objective:: To compare ultrasound propagation velocity with densitometry in the diaphyseal compact cortical bone of whole sheep metatarsals.

Methods:: The transverse ultrasound velocity and bone mineral density of 5-cm-long diaphyseal bone segments were first measured. The bone segments were then divided into four groups of 15 segments each and demineralized in an aqueous 0.

Influence of the osteosynthesis plate on ultrasound propagation in the bone.

Objective: To analyze the influence of steel plates for osteosynthesis on the velocity of ultrasound propagation (VU) through the bone.

Methods: The transverse coronal and sagittal velocity of ultrasound propagation underwater were measured on the intact bone and then on assemblies of the same bone with two types of osteosynthesis plates (DCP and semi tubular), fixed onto the dorsal side of the bones. The first arriving signal (FAS) was the ultrasound parameter used, taking the coronal and sagittal diameters as the distances to calculate velocity.

A comparative in vivo ultrasonometric evaluation of normal and delayed fracture healing in sheep tibiae.

Objective: To compare normal and delayed bone healing by measuring ultrasound conduction velocity across the bone callus.

Methods: A model of transverse linear and 5 mm resection osteotomies of sheep tibiae was used. Fourteen sheep were operated on and were divided into two groups of seven according to osteotomy type.

Ultrasonometry evaluation of axial compression osteosinthesis. An experimental study.

Objective: To measure the ultrasound propagation velocity (UV) through a tibial transverse osteotomy in sheep, before and after the fixation with a DCP plate.

Material And Methods: Ten assemblies of a DCP plate with the diaphyseal segment of tibiae, in which a transverse osteotomy was made, were used. Both coronal and sagittal transverse and the axial UV were measured, first with the intact bone assembled with the plate and then with the uncompressed and compressed osteotomy; statistical comparisons were made at the 1% (p<0.

A comparative analysis between ultrasonometry and computer-aided tomography to evaluate bone healing.

An ultrasonometric and computed-tomographic study of bone healing was undertaken using a model of a transverse mid-shaft osteotomy of sheep tibiae fixed with a semi-flexible external fixator. Fourteen sheep were operated and divided into two groups of seven according to osteotomy type, either regular or by segmental resection. The animals were killed on the 90th postoperative day and the tibiae resected for the in vitro direct contact transverse and axial measurement of ultrasound propagation velocity (UV) followed by quantitative computer-aided tomography (callus density and volume) through the osteotomy site.

Ultrasound propagation velocity and broadband attenuation can help evaluate the healing process of an experimental fracture.

Ultrasonometry seems to have a future for the evaluation of fracture healing. Ultrasound propagation velocity (USPV) significantly decreases at the same time that bone diameter decreases as healing takes place, thus approaching normal values. In this investigation, both USPV and broadband ultrasound attenuation (BUA) were measured using a model of a transverse mid-diaphyseal osteotomy of sheep tibiae.

A new treadmill-type motorized walking belt machine for video recording of the rat's gait and sciatic functional index measurement. A comparative study with other methods.

The sciatic functional index (SFI) is a remarkable tool to assess dysfunction and functional recovery of the sciatic nerve of rats. Usually measured on hind foot imprints on paper, a new method is now being proposed, by direct analysis of video recorded foot sole images obtained with a treadmill-type walking belt machine functioning with gait speed control (G1). Results were compared with the SFI measured on imprints on paper (G2) and on video recorded foot sole images obtained with a static see-through runway (G3).

Is the Sciatic Functional Index always reliable and reproducible?

The Sciatic Functional Index (SFI) is a quite useful tool for the evaluation of functional recovery of the sciatic nerve of rats in a number of experimental injuries and treatments. Although it is an objective method, it depends on the examiner's ability to adequately recognize and mark the previously established footprint key points, which is an entirely subjective step, thus potentially interfering with the calculations according to the mathematical formulae proposed by different authors. Thus, an interpersonal evaluation of the reproducibility of an SFI computer-aided method was carried out here to study data variability.

Ultrasonometric evaluation of bone healing: Experimental study using a model of diaphyseal transverse osteotomy of sheep tibiae.

Noninvasive ionizing-radiation-free methods of evaluation, such as ultrasonometry, are desirable in any medical situation. An in vitro ultrasonometric study was undertaken to evaluate the bone healing process of sheep tibiae submitted to a diaphyseal transverse osteotomy at different times after the procedure. Fifteen sheep weighing an average of 37 kg had surgery for a transverse mid-diaphyseal osteotomy of the right tibia; they were divided postoperatively into three groups of five for periods of observation at 30, 45 and 60 days.