Postmortem activation analysis: Preliminary observations in the preterm infant

Few data exist on the elemental composition of the human body during infancy. The scarcity of the data is due, in part, to the destructive nature of total body analyses normally required for the classical chemical approach. To help determine such data for infants, we have developed a neutron activation facility for nondestructive postmortem analyses. The system consists of a multisource²⁴¹AmBe irradiator and a multidetector NaI(T1) whole body counter. The total body contents of K, Ca, P, Na and Cl are determined. Postmortem examinations have been performed in twelve infant cadavers. These results are compared with those of the reference fetus.