Abstract
In clinical diagnosis, X-ray computed tomography (CT) is one of the most important imaging techniques. Yet, this method lacks the ability to differentiate similarly absorbing substances like commonly used iodine contrast agent and calcium which is typically seen in calcifications, kidney stones and bones. K-edge subtraction (KES) imaging can help distinguish these materials by subtracting two CT scans recorded at different X-ray energies. So far, this method mostly relies on monochromatic X-rays produced at large synchrotron facilities. Here, we present the first proof-of-principle experiment of a filter-based KES CT method performed at a compact synchrotron X-ray source based on inverse-Compton scattering, the Munich Compact Light Source (MuCLS). It is shown that iodine contrast agent and calcium can be clearly separated to provide CT volumes only showing one of the two materials. These results demonstrate that KES CT at a compact synchrotron source can become an important tool in pre-clinical research.
Highlights
In clinical diagnosis, X-ray computed tomography (CT) is one of the most important imaging techniques
In contrast to clinical imaging, where the second scan is time-delayed in order to acquire scans with contrast agent and without it, the X-ray spectrum is filtered in our approach to change the mean energy for the second scan
In the filtered projection images, the X-ray absorption of the iodine contrast agent is reduced to 0.937 ± 0.007 due to the absence of the high energy photons above the K-edge in the spectrum
Summary
X-ray computed tomography (CT) is one of the most important imaging techniques This method lacks the ability to differentiate absorbing substances like commonly used iodine contrast agent and calcium which is typically seen in calcifications, kidney stones and bones. It is shown that iodine contrast agent and calcium can be clearly separated to provide CT volumes only showing one of the two materials These results demonstrate that KES CT at a compact synchrotron source can become an important tool in pre-clinical research. Jacobson in 19535, two X-ray images are taken at different mean energies slightly below and a bit above the K-edge of the photoelectric absorption of the contrast medium Their subtraction generates an image only displaying the contrasted structure while other anatomical www.nature.com/scientificreports/. KES imaging has usually been performed at synchrotrons
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