Micah Waldstein with David Farrell, John Tripp and Bob Brown
Imaging the Density of the Human Body
By taking advantage of the phenomenon of high-Tc superconductivity, the physics department’s superconductivity group has recently miniaturized the equipment used for performing in-vivo magnetic susceptometry. As a result, multi-detector susceptometer arrays are now practical. This in turns means that density imaging of the human body has become feasible, at least in simple form. We will explore this by modeling the response of a variety of detector arrays, and obtaining solutions to the inverse problem. The results will allow us to compare the suitability of different arrays for density imaging.
Density is a fundamental physical parameter that is markedly changed by a number of serious disease states – for example, osteoporosis. Since no existing diagnostic modality measures the parameter as directly as magnetic susceptometry, it is possible that the results of this project may prove of value in medical diagnostics.