Optimal analytical conditions for determining elements in gastric tissue and blood of cancer patients using neutron activation

Optimal conditions for elemental analysis in the gastric tissue and blood, including serum, plasma, and whole blood, of patients with gastric cancer were investigated using instrumental neutron activation analysis. In this work, different irradiated time, cooling time, and counting period and various weights of samples were adopted to study the optimization of elemental analysis. The selection of optimized method depends on the minimum detectable concentration and the quantitative accuracy of measurable elements of Br, Cl, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, Na, Rb, Se, and Zn. It is suggested that the sample sizes of 50-100 mg for gastric tissue and 20 mg for blood in short irradiation and 40-60 mg for blood in long irradiation are ideal for elemental analysis. Furthermore, five-minute activation and counting time in short irradiation yields the optimum condition. From analytical results, the analysis span of a sample may be shortened to 1-3 hours with 35-55 days cooling in long irradiation.