title: Ultrasound measurements of overlying soft tissue thickness at four skeletal sites suitable for in vivo x-ray fluorescence.
abstract: Due to signal attenuation in overlying soft tissue, development of x-ray fluorescence systems to measure low atomic number elements, such as strontium, in human bone required a search for a skeletal site with thin overlying tissue. This paper reports ultrasound measurements of overlying tissue on 10 subjects, at four anatomical sites. The average tissue thickness at the finger was (2.9+/-0.7) mm. The average tissue thicknesses were (3.6+/-0.7) mm, (4.8+/-2.0) mm, and (8.4+/-1.7) mm at forehead, tibia and heel, respectively. Additionally, both parametric and nonparametric approaches to the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and tissue thickness suggest that there is a significant linear correlation between the subject's BMI and overlying tissue at the finger and heel bone. These correlations might be used as a criterion to perform XRF measurements, however a larger data set is required to address these correlations more clearly.
authors.affiliation: Ryerson University, Toronto, MSB 2K3 Canada.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pejović-Milić
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Brito
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gyorffy
authors.forename: D R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Chettle
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000886:Anthropometry / Q000379:methods; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001842:Bone and Bones / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D003238:Connective Tissue / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D005260:Female; D005385:Fingers / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D005546:Forehead / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D006365:Heel / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012016:Reference Values; D013052:Spectrometry, X-Ray Emission / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D013977:Tibia / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D014463:Ultrasonography