A FEASIBILITY STUDY OF THE INVIVO MEASUREMENT OF ALUMINUM IN PERIPHERAL BONE

The feasibility study was of the use of an accelerator based neutron source, using the 3 MV Dynamitron accelerator in the School of Physics and Space Research, The University of Birmingham. Neutrons were produced via the 3H(1H,n)3He reaction and the incident proton energy was varied to obtain neutron spectra with differing energies. The sensitivity for aluminium measurements (counts per unit mass per unit dose) was determined for the different neutron energies used; the possibility of using high resolution germanium, as opposed to NaI(Tl), detectors was examined, as were interferences and projected detection limits.