Abstract

An apparatus (100) for assessing the condition of bone tissue in the bone region (21) of a patient, comprising an ultrasound device (11) having a means for transmitting / receiving ultrasound along the a plurality of ultrasonic propagation lines (15) arranged to reach the bone region (21), and to receive in response from the bone region (21) a plurality of reflected raw ultrasound signals (36, 38); means for generating an ultrasound signal, an ultrasound image forming means for forming an ultrasound image (29) of the bone region (21), starting from the reflected raw ultrasound signals (36, 38); means for extracting at least one frequency spectrum (43, 44, 47, 48) from at least a portion of said plurality of reflected raw ultrasound signals (36, 38) from corresponding points (34) of the bone region (21), each having a plurality of harmonic components, an intensity (A) of a portion of one of the reflected raw ultrasound signals being associated with each frequency (v) of the frequency interval; means for comparing (24) at least one frequency spectrum (43, 44, 47, 48) with at least one reference spectrum (52) which is associated with at least one healthy and / or pathological subject, and for calculate a diagnostic parameter according to this comparison. For this reason, the apparatus makes it possible to implement an ultrasound image-guided method, unlike what occurs in prior art ultrasound bone densimetry devices, which use ultrasonic beams to measure their attenuation, without any reference to the detail of the bone region. The ultrasound beams can pass over the bone network according to modes that depend on the structure of the network, and thus make it possible to obtain information from this structure, as well as bone densitometry data.