Osteoporosis is one of the most common diseases worldwide: With increasing age, bone density decreases, the bone becomes porous and the risk of a bone fracture increases. On the left, a cross-section through an osteoporotic tibia (30% porosity); on the right, a healthy bone (5% porosity) in comparison.

Osteoporosis is one of the most common and expensive widespread diseases worldwide and increases the risk of suffering a bone fracture. Often the disease is detected late or not at all and remains untreated.

The research team consist of researchers from the Kiel University (CAU), namely: Professor Andreas Bahr the head of sensor system slectronics department at the institute of electrical engineering and information technology, Professor of Medical Physics Claus-Christian Glüer at the medical faculty of the CAU and head of the biomedical imaging section of the clinic for radiology and neuroradiology at the university medical center Schleswig-Holstein (UKSH), and software company sonoware GmbH. In the framework of the cooperation project it is planned to develop an ultrasound device that can be used to determine bone density and structure more accurately and more gently than the X-ray methods used to date. The new diagnostic device could thus be used in a more versatile way and help to identify osteoporosis diseases more quickly and comprehensively, according to the research team's goal.

The next step is to turn this patent-pending method into a fully functional prototype for medical use in general, internal medical or gynecology practices.

The project, which has now been launched, is being funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy as a part of the Central Innovation Program for small and medium -sized enterprises (SMEs).

The full press report on the launch of the project can be found on the CAU's central website.

The Schleswig-Holstein-Magazin reported on 23.05.2022 about the AMBIT project.