Study On Bone Density Measurements With Dual Energy X-ray Sources

Osteoporosis is being paid close attention by people all these years,and can be diagnosed timely through the clinical bone density measurements,in which bone densitometers are widely applied. Compares with other densitometers, Dual energy X-ray absorptionmetry shows lots of advantages. A method of bone density measurements utilizing DEXA is studied in details in this paper,and Calibrations using standard material to measure bone density are also introduced.The main contents in this paper includes:Introduction to the research background of DEXA. It introduces the concept of osteoporosis and its potential harmfulness. Several methods for bone density measurements are introduced and compared,then the advantages of DEXA are concluded.The dual energy X-ray absorptionmetry is analyzed detailedly including the physical theories of the technique, the measurement positions of human body, the ways to produce dual energy X-ray and the corresponding detectors'characteristics.Hardware designs utilizing C8051F020 as the main controller is introduced, the data acquisition system based on two-way single-chip pulse counter and the scan control system driven by MS-3H090M driver to make X-ray source and detector function are both achieved.Chapter 4 introduces the design of software framework of DEXA, based on Visual C++6.0, programming of information managements of people with ADO database access technology, the control of stepping motor and data acceptance programming through Serial Communication are achieved. Preliminary performance testing shows good abilities in scan control and data acceptance. Furthermore Calibrations using standard material to measure bone density are also introduced.Finally the measuring standard for Chinese bone density is introduced. A reference bone density database for people from all over China is established based on the clinical literatures.