title: Design of a phantom equivalent to measure bone-fluorine in a human's hand via delayed neutron activation analysis.
abstract: Fluorine is an element that can be either beneficial or harmful, depending on the total amount accumulated in the teeth or bones. In our laboratory, we have developed a non-invasive technique for the in vivo measurement of fluoride in bone using neutron activation analysis and performed the first pilot human study. Fluoride in humans is quantified by comparing the γ-ray signal from a person to the γ-ray signal obtained from appropriate anthropomorphic calibration phantoms. An identified problem with existing fluoride phantoms is contamination with aluminum. Aluminum creates an interfering γ-ray signal which, although it can be subtracted out, increases the uncertainty in the measurement and worsens the detection limit. This paper outlines a series of studies undertaken to develop a better calibration phantom for fluorine measurement, which does not have aluminum contamination.
authors.affiliation: Medical Physics and Applied Radiation Sciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada. mostaf@mcmaster.ca
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Mostafaei
authors.forename: F E
authors.initials: FE
authors.lastname: McNeill
authors.forename: D R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Chettle
authors.forename: W V
authors.initials: WV
authors.lastname: Prestwich
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Inskip
mesh_terms: D000535:Aluminum / Q000032:analysis; D001842:Bone and Bones / Q000737:chemistry*; D002138:Calibration; D005461:Fluorine / Q000032:analysis*; D006801:Humans; D009501:Neutron Activation Analysis / Q000379:methods*; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging
chemical_list: D005461:Fluorine; D000535:Aluminum