A system for spectroscopic imaging of bodily tissue in which a
scintillation screen and a charged coupled device (CCD) are used to
accurately image selected tissue. Applications include the imaging of
radionuclide distributions within the human body or the use of a dual
energy source to provide a dual photon bone densitometry apparatus that
uses stationary or scanning acquisition techniques. An x-ray source
generates x-rays which pass through a region of a subject's body, forming
an x-ray image which reaches the scintillation screen. The scintillation
screen reradiates a spatial intensity pattern corresponding to the image,
the pattern being detected by a CCD sensor. The image is digitized by the
sensor and processed by a controller before being stored as an electronic
image. A dual energy x-ray source that delivers two different energy
levels provides quantitative information regarding the object being
imaged using dual photon absorptiometry techniques. Dual scintillation
screens can be used to simultaneously generate images of low-energy and
high-energy x-ray patterns. Each image is directed onto an associated
respective CCD or amorphous silicon detector to generate individual
electronic representations of the separate images.