An accelerator-based neutron activation analysis facility for the in vivo measurement of bone aluminium

A project to develop a system for the in vivo measurement of aluminium was started in October of 1991 as a joint collaboration between the School of Physics and Space Research of the University of Birmingham and the Medical Physics Department of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham. Funding was obtained for an initial two years from the West Midlands Regional Health Authority with the aim of establishing a measurement facility that could provide clinical information about the body burden of aluminium in renal dialysis patients. The application of neutron activation analysis to measure aluminium in the body is discussed together with the work that has been performed to date. This system at Birmingham has demonstrated that the amount of aluminium expected in the hand of an individual with aluminium toxicity can be measured for a radiation dose to the hand of 20 mSv, and the ways in which the system may be further developed as a clinical measurement facility are described. (author)