Abstract
About one third of all deaths worldwide can be traced back to cardiovascular diseases. An interventional radiology procedure for their diagnosis is Digital Subtraction Angiography (DSA). An alternative to DSA is K-Edge subtraction (KES) imaging, which has been shown to be advantageous for moving organs and eliminating image artifacts caused by patient movement. As highly brilliant, monochromatic X-rays are required for this method, it has been limited to synchrotron facilities so far, restraining the feasibility in clinical routine. Compact synchrotron X-ray sources based on inverse Compton scattering, which have been evolving substantially over the past decade, provide X-rays with sufficient brilliance that meet spatial and financial requirements affordable in laboratory settings or for university hospitals. In this work, we demonstrate a first proof-of-principle K-edge subtraction imaging experiment using the Munich Compact Light Source (MuCLS), the first user-dedicated installation of a compact synchrotron X-ray source worldwide. It is shown experimentally that the technique of KES increases the visibility of small blood vessels overlaid by bone structures.
Highlights
Digital Subtraction Angiography (DSA) is one of the most important examinations in the diagnosis of cardiovascular disease and treatment of blood vessels [1,2,3]
The results of our experiments show that K-Edge subtraction (KES)-imaging, in combination with a compact synchrotron X-ray source that is tuned to the K-edge of the contrast medium, can enhance the contrast and visibility of blood vessels lying behind bone structures
It can be seen that the contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) is reduced in the KES image when the aluminum thickness is low, as the gain in contrast is not higher than the increase of the noise level
Summary
Digital Subtraction Angiography (DSA) is one of the most important examinations in the diagnosis of cardiovascular disease and treatment of blood vessels [1,2,3]. It is highly effective in enhancing contrast between vascular structures and surrounding soft tissue as well as bone. Motion artifacts caused by patient motion, respiration and cardiac motion limit the application of this method. The resulting artifacts are severe when imaging coronary arteries [4]. K-edge subtraction (KES) imaging exploits the sharp increase of the absorption coefficient of a contrast agent to acquire images at energies just below and above the K-edge energy.
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