Multi-parameter assessment of osteoporosis based on x-ray induced acoustic computed tomography

X-ray induced acoustic computed tomography (XACT) reconstructed the internal x-ray absorption distribution of bone tissue through the ultrasound generation by the thermoelastic effect. In this paper, we proposed a method for multi-parameter assessment of osteoporosis using XACT technology. The relationship between the x-ray induced acoustic (XA) signal and the viscoelasticity of bone tissue was investigated theoretically. Through XACT simulation experiments, multi-parameter such as bone density, content, elasticity, and viscosity can be characterized qualitatively by extracting XA signal intensity, spatial proportion, and XA displacement time from the reconstructed XACT images. Experimental results showed that this method can provide comprehensive multi-parameter information on skeletal tissue, demonstrating potential application value in the skeletal assessment of osteoporosis.