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A 4 × 500 mm 2 “cloverleaf” low energy germaniumdetector array has been assembled for the purpose of in vivo bone lead measurement through x-ray fluorescence. Using Cd 109 as an exciting source, results are reported from a leg phantom simulating measurement of lead in a human tibia. For high activity ( 4.0 – 4.4 GBq ) and low activity ( 0.18 – 0.19 GBq ) sources, measurement results are reported for both the cloverleaf system and a conventional single detector system of equivalent surface area ( 2000 mm 2 ) . The mean uncertainty and reproducibility of measurement were both significantly improved for the cloverleaf system with a high activity Cd 109 source. When using a source activity of 4.4 GBq , measurement of the phantom resulted in an average bone leaduncertainty of 0.79 μ g ∕ g and a reproducibility of 0.84 μ g ∕ g . These results represent the highest precision yet reported from a bone leadx-ray fluorescence system.

A 4 x 500 mm2 "cloverleaf" low energy germanium detector array has been assembled for the purpose of in vivo bone lead measurement through x-ray fluorescence. Using 109Cd as an exciting source, results are reported from a leg phantom simulating measurement of lead in a human tibia. For high activity (4.0-4.4 GBq) and low activity (0.18-0.19 GBq) sources, measurement results are reported for both the cloverleaf system and a conventional single detector system of equivalent surface area (2000 mm2). The mean uncertainty and reproducibility of measurement were both significantly improved for the cloverleaf system with a high activity 109Cd source. When using a source activity of 4.4 GBq, measurement of the phantom resulted in an average bone lead uncertainty of 0.79 microg/g and a reproducibility of 0.84 microg/g. These results represent the highest precision yet reported from a bone lead x-ray fluorescence system.