Editing Scanco Administration (section)

===Overview===
*Micro-CT systems cannot directly measure the density of a material, however, the density is linearly correlated to the x-ray absorption (assuming a proper beam-hardening correction is applied), which can be measured by micro-CT.  Density is therefore determined by measuring a reference material of known density (i.e., a phantom) to define a conversion function to relate x-ray absorption to density. Quality control of density and structural measurements for the micro-CT systems is achieved through weekly checks of phantom values to their reference values and recalibrating the system (i.e., defining a new conversion function) as necessary. 

*Performing QC is essential to the:
# Safety of our study participants and lab members
# Validity of our research data

[[File:QC_phantom.jpg|thumb|center|600px|Scanco Medical quality control phantom (a) and its CT scans of the density QC1 (b) and the structural QC2 (c)]]

*Reference:  Koller B, Laib A (2007) Calibration of micro-CT data for quantifying bone mineral and biomaterial density and microarchitecture. In: Advanced bioimaging technologies in assessment of the quality of bone and scaffold materials: techniques and applications. Springer, pp 79-84.


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