The crucial contribution of X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy in medicine

Abstract

This contribution tries to indicate to the clinician what kind of information can be investigated through X-ray fluorescence, what kind of information can be extracted from this spectroscopy and finally how it competes with other tools described in previous publications such as Fourier Transform Infrared or Raman spectroscopy, X-ray Absorption Near Edge Structure spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction. To attain this goal, several examples based on X-ray fluorescence experiments performed on biological samples namely concretions, medical devices, biological fluids as well as tissues are presented.