Some Applications of Power Law Analysis to Radioisotope Studies in Man

Abstract

The specific activity of calcium in the blood following intravenous injection of ⁴⁷Ca was studied in six normal subjects, three patients with osteoporosis and eight patients with secondary cancer of bone. Measurements were made from 2 min after injection to 8 or 10 days later. When the results were plotted on log-log graph paper, they followed 2 or 3 straight lines (i.e. power functions). the pattern of which was characteristic of the bone condition concerned. Many other data can be similarly represented more simply by power functions than by exponentials. It is suggested that although this finding is empirical, it does nevertheless give additional meaning to the results obtained.