Measurement of calcium in sections of a human skeleton using a reactor spectrum-in vivo activation analysis technique

Factors influencing the precision of measuring changes in the calcium content of sections of bone, including vertebrae, using reactor neutrons for partial body in vivo activation analysis have been examined and quantified. These factors include (a) the choice of incidient neutron spectrum, (b) the uniformity of activation with depth in the body, (c) reproducibility, (d) interfering reactions, (e) sensitivity and (f) dosimetry. It is concluded that an overall precision of 2.8%-3.2% (coefficient of variation) can be attained with a neutron dose of 50 mrad or 3-4% with a dose as low as 20 mrad.