Feasibility of osteoporosis screening by dual-energy radiographic absorptiometry of the phalanx.

A new dual-energy radiographic absorptiometry-based technique is presented as a cost-effective method for mass osteoporosis screening. Designed for use in a dental health care setting, we propose a method and device for bone mineral density (BMD) assessment using the middle phalanx of the 3rd digit as our anatomical measurement site. Our 2-staged project includes the development of the prototype to carry out the measurement and the execution of a small pilot study to determine the efficacy of the method and device.

Deblurring of x-ray spectra acquired with a Nal-photomultiplier detector by constrained least-squares deconvolution.

A constrained least-squares technique to correct diagnostic x-ray tube energy spectra for inherent blurring by scintillation detectors was developed. The measured detector response function to monoenergetic sources was used to construct a matrix that modeled the energy broadening in the crystal. This blurring operator, along with an estimate of statistical noise in the count data, comprised the a priori system knowledge required for application of the method.