Abstract
Cameron's concept of bone mineral measurement using soft γ-rays has been extended to determine the area and shape of the compacta cross-section and the corresponding mean linear absorption coefficient. By repeating the linear scanning process at the same section for different directions a polygon is defined which circumscribes the outer contour of the bone section. With the aid of a PDP 11–45 computer and an iterative technique the compacta area and the mean linear absorption coefficient are evaluated. In addition the computer synthesizes iteratively an image of the actual compacta cross-section. Thanks to the redundancy of the absorption data the values for the total mineral content, the compacta area and the mean density can be determined as many times as the scanning process has been carried out. The fluctuations of these values from their averages can apparently be interpreted as a measure of the consistency of the data. To validate the method and assess the accuracy and statistical fluctuations of the measurements an aluminum tube with circular cross-section has been used as a model for a bone. The data indicate that the total mineral content, the compacta area and the mean density can be determined with an error on the order of 1%. Data from measurements on excised human femurs have been obtained and the results are equally consistent as those of the aluminum model.
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Rüegsegger, P., Niederer, P. & Anliker, M. An extension of classical bone mineral measurements. Ann Biomed Eng 2, 194–205 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02368490
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02368490