The development of a Compton lung densitometer

Author

Loo, Billy W. ; Goulding, Fred S. ; Madden, Norm W. ; Simon, Daniel S.

Author_Institution

Lawrence Berkeley Lab., CA, USA

Volume

36

Issue

1

fYear

1989

fDate

2/1/1989 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

1144

Lastpage

1148

Abstract

A field instrument is being developed for the noninvasive 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 chest wall. Results of studies on system performance with phantoms, the optimization of detectors, and the fabrication of a practical gamma-ray source are presented. It is concluded that the compact one-source one-detector system that has been developed has the potential of becoming a clinical instrument for measuring pulmonary edema

Keywords

biomedical equipment; biomedical measurement; densitometry; gamma-ray applications; Compton backscattering techniques; Ge; absolute lung density; attenuation; clinical instrument; close-coupled geometry; gamma-ray source; monoenergetic gamma-ray beam; multiple scattering; phantoms; pulmonary edema; Attenuation; Backscatter; Gamma ray detection; Gamma ray detectors; Geometry; Imaging phantoms; Instruments; Lungs; Scattering; System performance;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Nuclear Science, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9499

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/23.34620

Filename

34620