SPEED OF SOUND MEASUREMENT IN PORCINE INTERVERTEBRAL DISCS: AN IN VITRO STUDY

Abstract

Disc degeneration is associated with premature ageing of intervertebral discs (IVD) and a gradual degradation of the nucleus pulposus (NP) biomechanical properties. The objective of this study is to investigate whether quantitative ultrasound (QUS) technique can be used to determine the speed of sound (SOS) in the NP and to correlate SOS with histological measurements. The ultrasonic measurements are realized with a 3.5[Formula: see text]MHz focused monoelement transducer used in echographic mode. The value of the interspecimen variability of SOS is significantly superior than the reproducibility of the measurements, which indicates that the technique is sensitive to variations of the material properties of the NP. A significant correlation between SOS values and the percentage of physaliphorous cells ratios is obtained ([Formula: see text]) when considering all samples. QUS can be useful to assess the biomechanical properties of the IVD, which may be useful in the context of tissue engineering applications.