A. Tartari et al., IN-VIVO MONITORING OF BONE-PB AND RETROSPECTIVE EXPOSURE - AN ASSESSMENT IN OCCUPATIONALLY EXPOSED SUBJECTS, Journal of trace elements in medicine and biology, 11(3), 1997, pp. 179-181
In this work we present the preliminary results of an investigation in
to the bone burden of lead in occupationally exposed subjects. The as
sessment of bone lead levels normalised to the mineral content (mg/kg
bone mineral) were carried out by means of an in vivo X ray fluorescen
ce techniques (Pb-XRF). The measurements were performed on the second
phalanx of the right index finger and the minimum detectable limits of
the XRF techniques was estimated around 25-30 mg/kg. Although the blo
od lead level monitoring over long time seems to indicate working acti
vities in environments with low sources of lead contamination, high Pb
-XRF levels, and not well correlated with the exposure time, were foun
d. These anomalous values could be explained in term of the dependence
of zinc protoporphyrin assessment against the measurement time.