Comparison of the electrical and dielectric behavior of wet human cortical and cancellous bone tissue from the distal tibia.

We compared the electrical and dielectric properties of wet human cortical and cancellous bone tissue from the distal tibia. The relationships between the electrical and dielectric behavior of cortical and cancellous bone and variables of measurement such as frequency and direction (orientation) were evaluated. In general, the resistivity of human cortical bone was found to be approximately 3.1 times more than that of cancellous bone in the longitudinal direction and least 25 times more in the transverse directions. The dielectric permittivity of human cortical bone was approximately 3.9 times that of cancellous bone in the longitudinal direction, whereas in the transverse directions it was about 0.65 times greater. Measurement variables such as frequency and orientation appeared to affect cancellous and cortical bone differently. Strong correlations were found between the electrical properties in one direction and the electrical properties in the other two directions; however, these relationships differed for the samples of cortical and cancellous bone.