Skip to main content
ARS Home » Plains Area » Houston, Texas » Children's Nutrition Research Center » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #71099

Title: PEDIATRIC-SIZED WHOLE BODY PHANTOMS FOR CALIBRATION OF DUAL-ENERGY X-RAY ABSORPTIOMETRY

Author
item SHYPAILO, ROMAN - BAYLOR COLL OF MEDICINE
item JOO, JUDY - BAYLOR COLL OF MEDICINE
item ELLIS, KENNETH

Submitted to: Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology Conference
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/10/1996
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: This research has focused on the development of a set of four phantoms to simulate body sizes approximating the 50th percentile of weight for children at ages 4, 10, 15, and 18 yr. The phantoms are a modification of the basic BOMAB design and have ten body sections, each containing an anthropomorphic- shaped skeleton fabricated from CaHPO4-doped epoxy resin. The precision and accuracy of the dual-energy x-ray absorptiometric (DXA) measurement of bone mineral content (BMC) was examined. All total body scans were performed using a Hologic QDR-2000 instrument operated in the single beam mode; data analyzed with enhance whole body software version V5.60. Precision of BMC, based on 4 scans over 2 wk, were 1.8%, 0.5%, 0.5%, and 0.5%, respectively. Total body BMC were highly correlated (r2 = 0.999, p<0.001) with the chemical Ca content of the total skeleton. The Ca/BMC ratio was 0.378 +/- 0.012 g/g. The addition of overlays to the phantoms to simulate increased body size and/or body fat resulted in small but significant increases in the measured values for BMC. In conclusion, longitudinal studies of BMC in children in which there is a significant change in body size or body fat content may need to be adjusted in order to more accurately determine the true rate of bone mineralization.