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Title: In vivo determination of bone blood flow

Conference · · J. Nucl. Med.; (United States)
OSTI ID:6575239

Quantitative measurement of bone blood flow is vital to understand the hemodynamics of bone systems especially in the study of asceptic bone necroses. These ''silent bends'' result from micro-emboli in femoral arterioles from small nitrogen bubbles released from lipids during a diver's ascent. A technique to determine bone blood flow in vivo has been developed by measuring the rate of inert gas washout of Ar-41 (t /sub 1/2/ = 1.83 h, E = 1293 keV) from the bone mineral matrix. Argon gas is formed in vivo by neutron activation of Ca-44 using 14.3 MeV neutrons, following the reaction Ca-44(n, ..cap alpha..)Ar-41. The blood flow in the irradiated bone is determined by measuring the clearance rate of Ar-41 using gamma-ray spectroscopy. To date, measurements have been made on dead and living rats (weight 300g). The results indicated that in the no-flow situation the clearance rate is consistent with the physical half-life of Ar-41, while for the live rats the clearance rate for argon is dependent on the flow of blood in the bone. The observed clearance times correspond to flows greater than 3 ml of blood per 100 ml of argon distribution volume/min (F/pV), with the bone-blood partition coefficient for argon approximately one. In addition, measurements of the partitioning of argon and other gases with bone have been measured in order to understand blood-bone systems more fully.

Research Organization:
Dept. of Medical Physics, Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI
OSTI ID:
6575239
Report Number(s):
CONF-840619-; TRN: 87-018899
Journal Information:
J. Nucl. Med.; (United States), Vol. 25:5; Conference: 31. annual meeting of the Society of Nuclear Medicine, Los Angeles, CA, USA, 5 Jun 1984
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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