C. Shenberg et al., BR, RB, ZN, FE, SE AND K IN BLOOD OF COLORECTAL PATIENTS BY INAA AND PIXE, Journal of trace elements in medicine and biology, 9(4), 1995, pp. 193-199
A preliminary study was conducted on blood samples and blood fractions
of 11 colorectal patients and 10 healthy subjects (controls) in Belgi
um, in order to determine the concentration of some vital trace elemen
ts. Two non destructive analytical methods were used for the determina
tion: INAA and PIXE. The agreement between PIXE and INAA was within ab
out +/- 10% for plasma, but for Rb, Se and Fe in whole blood and red c
ells a difference of +/- 20% was noted; part of the discrepancy may be
due to self absorption problems in PIXE, and for Rb, spectral interfe
rences also may have contributed. The precision of the INAA method for
the elements studied was found to be +/- 3% for whole blood and red c
ells and +/- 5% for plasma; the accuracy for Br, Rb and Zn was better
than +/- 10% and +/- 17% for Se. The ratios of the concentrations in w
hole blood to red cells and whole blood to plasma were not significant
ly different for normals and cancer cases and, therefore, in future st
udies analysis of whole blood only may be sufficient. The mean values
for Br, Rb, Br/Rb ratio, K, Fe and Se were significantly lower for can
cer cases than for healthy individuals, and this might be applicable a
s an additional parameter for differentiating normals from malignant c
ases.