Bone mineral density (BMD) and body composition estimates are commonly obtained by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry measurements (DXA). Thanks to their high detection efficiency and good energy resolution at room temperature, semiconductor detectors are more and more utilized to discriminate energy channels for this application. Our purpose is to upgrade the measurements precision using this kind of detector. For a large range of patient morphologies, we simulate X-ray beam transmission measurements with realistic models of tube spectra, and investigate the opportunity offered by spectrometric detectors to cut the signal into n energy channels. By adjusting the channels boundaries, tube voltage and K-edge filtrations, we obtain the best configuration for a given type of patient according to a precision criterion. Furthermore, this configuration is found to be compatible with all the range of patients for BMD measurements. For this configuration, we validate our approach with experimental data acquired with a laboratory made CdZnTe detector.
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