Medical Research Center, Brookhaven National Laboratory, 11973, Upton, Long Island, NY.
Biol Trace Elem Res. 1987 Aug;13(1):179-90. doi: 10.1007/BF02796631.
In the past 20 yr, in vivo analysis of body elements by neutron activation has become an important tool in medical research. In particular, it provides a much needed means to make quantitative assessments of body composition of human beings in vivo. The data are useful both for basic physiological understanding and for diagnosis and management of a variety of diseases and disorders. This paper traces the development of the in vivo neutron activation technique from basic systems to the present state of the art facilities. A scan of some of the numerous clinical applications that have been made with this technique reveals the broad potentialities of in vivo neutron activation. The paper also considers alternative routes of future development and raises some of the questions now faced in making the technique more widely available to both medical practitioners and medical investigtors.In vivo neutron activation has opened a new era of both clinical diagnosis and therapy evaluation, and investigation into the modeling of body composition. The techniques are new, but it is already clear that considerable strides can be made in increasing accuracy and precision, increasing the number of elements susceptible to measurement, and reducing the dose required for the measurement.
在过去的 20 年中，通过中子激活对体内元素进行分析已成为医学研究中的重要工具。特别是，它为对人体的体内成分进行定量评估提供了非常必要的手段。这些数据对于基础生理理解以及对各种疾病和失调的诊断和治疗都非常有用。本文追溯了从基础系统到目前最先进的设施的体内中子激活技术的发展。对该技术已进行的许多临床应用的扫描揭示了体内中子激活的广泛潜力。本文还考虑了未来发展的替代途径，并提出了在使该技术更广泛地为医疗从业者和医学研究人员所使用时所面临的一些问题。体内中子激活技术为临床诊断和治疗评估以及对身体成分建模的研究开辟了一个新时代。这些技术是新的，但已经很清楚，可以在提高准确性和精密度、增加可测量元素的数量以及减少测量所需的剂量方面取得相当大的进展。
