Acta Diabetol. 2003 Oct;40 Suppl 1:S73-5
Wielopolski L, Ramirez LM, Coyle P, Heymsfield S, Zimman J.
Brookhaven National Laboratory Bldg. 490-D, Upton, NY 94520, USA. lwielo@bnl.gov
The general aim of this work is to measure brain potassium (K) levels as a marker of intracellular water content and to test the hypothesis of whether edema in multiple sclerosis (MS) is associated with increased intracellular brain water.
For that purpose, a system to measure K in brain is being developed.
Our specific aim is to assess the potential contribution to the K photopeak from cranial K located outside the brain.
For this, a simplified spherical phantom to represent the brain, a square box to represent the cranium, and a K point source to assess the contributions due to K outside the brain were used.
It is estimated that only about 1-2% of the K photopeak might be attributable to K outside the brain.