A review of the state of art in applying Biot theory to acoustic propagation through the bone

Understanding the propagation of acoustic waves through a liquid-perfused porous solid framework such as cancellous bone is an important pre-requisite to improve the diagnosis of osteoporosis by ultrasound. In order to elucidate the propagation dependence upon the material and structural properties of cancellous bone, several theoretical models have been considered to date, with Biot-based models demonstrating the greatest potential. This paper describes the fundamental basis of these models and reviews their performance.