title: An x-ray fluorescence technique to measure in situ the heavy metal burdens of persons exposed to these elements in the workplace.
abstract: Assays of hair and body fluid concentrations may be valuable measurements of acute exposure to a heavy metal, but they do not provide insight into the total heavy metal intake when the intake is low and chronic. The use of an x-ray fluorescence technique (XRF) enables measurement of the long-term retention of various heavy metals in select tissues in vivo. XRF was used to measure the mercury content of head and bone tissue in 298 dentists with long-term exposure to mercury-containing amalgams. It was also used to evaluate the lead burden of persons suspected of having elevated lead exposure at the workplace, and to assay the lead levels in urban and rural children. These studies indicated that the x-ray fluorescence method of assaying heavy metals in vivo is noninvasive, safe, rapid, and sensitive to levels of many heavy metals that accumulate in human tissues.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001822:Body Burden; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004781:Environmental Exposure; D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D006801:Humans; D007854:Lead / Q000032:analysis*; D008628:Mercury / Q000032:analysis*; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000517:prevention & control; D010523:Peripheral Nervous System Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis; D013052:Spectrometry, X-Ray Emission; D014070:Tooth / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D004785:Environmental Pollutants; D007854:Lead; D008628:Mercury