Abstract
We have demonstrated the capability of laboratory propagation-based microtomography (miroCT) in non-destructive 3D virtual histopathology of human blood clots without any contrast agent. The volumetric information are valuable to understand the mechanical properties of clots which are crucial in selecting the most efficient mechanical thrombectomy method for clot extraction. Different clot types retrieved by mechanical thrombectomy from patient victims of acute ischemic stroke were evaluated through propagation-based microCT. The results were correlated with high-resolution scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images, confirming detected cellular and fibrillary structures. Calcifications appeared as glassy opacity areas with relatively intense signal on microCT images, also proved by energy-dispersive spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction. Hyperintense regions on the microCT corresponded to individual or compact aggregates of red blood cells, whereas fibrin dominated volumes appeared at consistently moderate to low normalized microCT values. Red blood cell shapes and sizes are consistent with the SEM observations. Together with other potential parameters, 3D porosity distribution and volume fraction of structures can be easily measured by microCT data. Further development of automated post-processing techniques for X-ray propagation-based micro/nanoCT, also based on machine learning algorithms, can enable high throughput analysis of blood clot composition and their 3D histological features on large sample cohorts.
Highlights
We have demonstrated the capability of laboratory propagation-based microtomography in non-destructive 3D virtual histopathology of human blood clots without any contrast agent
We give explicit examples as well as in the Supplementary Information (SI), how cellular (RBCs) and fibrillary structures clearly resolved by high-resolution scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images are associated and correlated with structures revealed by X-ray PB microCT
According to the PB microCT results and analyses and their correlation with high-resolution SEM observations, X-ray PB microCT can provide high resolution information about the composition of blood clot samples retrieved from stroke patients
Summary
We have demonstrated the capability of laboratory propagation-based microtomography (miroCT) in non-destructive 3D virtual histopathology of human blood clots without any contrast agent. X-ray phase-contrast imaging (XPCI) techniques have demonstrated significant improvement in the image contrast for soft tissues suffering from the low sensitivity for conventional X-ray attenuation imaging[8] Among those techniques, propagation-based imaging (PBI) is a simple and efficient non-contact X-ray imaging method that is sensitive to phase-shifts of X-ray wave fronts upon penetration and refraction through the matter when propagating to a sufficient distance to the d etector[9]. Propagation-based imaging (PBI) is a simple and efficient non-contact X-ray imaging method that is sensitive to phase-shifts of X-ray wave fronts upon penetration and refraction through the matter when propagating to a sufficient distance to the d etector[9] This technique enables higher contrast micro and nanotomography (microCT/nanoCT) and structural analysis down to a sub-micrometer s cale[10]
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