The development of a Compton lung densitometer

A field instrument is being developed for the non-invasive determination of absolute lung density using unique Compton backscattering techniques. A system consisting of a monoenergetic gamma-ray beam and a shielded high resolution high-purity-germanium (HPGe) detector in a close-coupled geometry is designed to minimize errors due to multiple scattering and uncontrollable attenuation in the chestwall. Results of studies on system performance with phantoms, the optimization of detectors, and the fabrication of a practical gamma-ray source are presented