Can blood flow in the bone be measured using coloured labelled Microspheres?

This study was designed to determine whether coloured micro-spheres represent a realistic alternative to more conventional techniques for the assessment of bone blood flow (BBF). BBF is normally measured using radioactive labelled micro-spheres, a technique that is accurate, but becoming increasingly challenged for safety and environmental reasons. Coloured micro-spheres come in two varieties, dye-fixed and dye eluting, and both have been employed for the measurement of blood flow in soft tissue for some time. However, measuring blood flow in bone presents a different challenge to that of soft tissue, insofar as the bone has to be dissolved using harsh chemicals to enable the harvesting of the micro-spheres for counting. This study therefore was designed to determine whether these micro-spheres would survive the harvesting process, and whether they could be identified and counted afterwards.