ULTRASONIC MEASUREMENT OF BONE AND BONE-MARROW THICKNESSES IN FEMUR COVERED WITH FLESH BY INSERTING A HIP-PROSTHESIS STEM

The thicknesses of the bone and the bone marrow region within a pig fe mur covered with flesh are investigated nondestructively by inserting a hip prosthesis stem via an ultrasonic pulse echo method. An ultrason ic wave is emitted toward the hip prosthesis stem via a normal probe a ttached to the flesh, and the distances from the normal probe to the b oundary surfaces of the bone and the metal stem are measured by observ ing the time intervals between each echo. Subsequently, the exact thic knesses of flesh, bone and bone marrow region are measured using verni er calipers. The results of the ultrasonic wave and vernier caliper me asurements are graphically presented and compared. The ultrasonic meth od is found to be applicable for the proposed purpose.