Elemental analysis in living human subjects using biomedical devices

Abstract

Today, patients undergoing dialysis are at low risk for aluminum-induced dementia. Workers are unlikely to experience cadmium-induced emphysema and the public’s exposure to lead is an order of magnitude lower than in 1970. The research field of in vivo elemental analysis has played a role in these occupational and environmental health improvements by allowing the effects of people’s chronic exposure to elements to be studied using non-invasive, painless, and relatively low-cost technology. From the early 1960s to the present day, researchers have developed radiation-based systems to measure the elemental content of organs at risk or storage organs. This reduces the need for (sometimes painful) biopsy and the risk of infection. Research and development has been undertaken on forty-nine in vivo measurement system designs. Twenty-nine different in vivo elemental analysis systems, measuring 22 different elements, have been successfully taken from design and testing through to human measurement. The majority of these systems employ either neutron activation analysis or x-ray fluorescence analysis as the basis of the measurement. In this review, we discuss eight of the successful systems, explaining the rationale behind their development, the methodology, the health data that has resulted from application of these tools, and provide our opinion on potential future technical developments of these systems. We close by discussing four technologies that may lead to new directions and advances in the whole field.

Atomic spectrometry update: review of advances in the analysis of clinical and biological materials, foods and beverages

“…Imaging applications of X-ray spectrometry are described separately in Section 6.2 below. In addition to this, a review of in vivo measurement systems using XRF spectrometry and NAA was published by Chettle and McNeill 99 which covered the development of eight such instruments for biomedical purposes.…”

The feasibility of K XRF bone lead measurements in mice assessed using 3D-printed phantoms

“…The technique of XRF has been used for in vivo analysis of lead in human bone for over forty years [24]. The specific XRF technique that uses 109 Cd was first developed in the 1980s [25] and has been the most widely used technology for human studies because it is considered a robust measurement [26]. The system employs a normalization of lead characteristic x-rays to a coherent scatter signal: this is considered to make a bone lead measurement independent of bone shape, size, mass, tissue overlay thickness, or subject motion [25].…”

A Two-Dimensional K-Shell X-ray Fluorescence (2D-KXRF) Model for Soft Tissue Attenuation Corrections of Strontium Measurements in a Cortical Lamb Bone Sample

“…In vivo and in vitro X-ray fluorescence (XRF) studies focused on detection, spatial distribution, and concentration measurements of chemical elements in biological tissues date back to more than half a century [1][2][3]. XRF methods identify elements based on the detection of characteristic X-rays: photons of well-defined energy emitted by atomic electron transitions from upper to lower subshells.…”