title: Non-destructive elemental analysis of vertebral body trabecular bone using muonic X-rays.
abstract: Non-destructive elemental analysis with muonic X-rays was performed on human vertebral bone and lumbar torso phantoms. It can provide quantitative information on all elements in small deep-seated localized volumes. The experiment was carried out using the superconducting muon channel at TRIUMF in Vancouver, Canada and a lithium drifted germanium detector with an active area of 18.5 cm2. The muon channel produced backward-decayed negative muons with wide kinetic energy range from 0.5 to 54.2 MeV. The muon beam was collimated to a diameter of 18 mm. The number of incoming muons was about 4 x 10(6) approximately 5 x 10(7) per data point. In the measurements with human vertebral bones fixed with neutralized formaldehyde, the correlation coefficient between calcium content measured by muons and by atomic absorption analysis was 0.99 and the level of significance was 0.0003. In the measurements with lumbar torso phantoms, the correlation coefficient between calcium content measured by muons and by atomic absorption analysis was 0.99 and the level of significance was 0.02. The results suggest that elemental analysis in vertebral body trabecular bone using muonic X-rays closely correlates with measurements by atomic absorption analysis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Tohoku University School of Medicine, Japan.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hosoi
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Watanabe
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sugita
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tanaka
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nagamine
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ono
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sakamoto
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002118:Calcium / Q000032:analysis*; D004867:Equipment Design; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008159:Lumbar Vertebrae / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D008297:Male; D008651:Mesons; D008875:Middle Aged; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging; D010758:Phosphorus / Q000032:analysis; D011859:Radiography / Q000295:instrumentation; D013057:Spectrum Analysis / Q000379:methods*; D014965:X-Rays
chemical_list: D010758:Phosphorus; D002118:Calcium