Abstract
X-ray phase-contrast imaging is a novel technology that achieves high soft-tissue contrast. Although its clinical impact is still under investigation, the technique may potentially improve clinical diagnostics. In conventional attenuation-based X-ray computed tomography, radiological diagnostics are quantified by Hounsfield units. Corresponding Hounsfield units for phase-contrast imaging have been recently introduced, enabling a setup-independent comparison and standardized interpretation of imaging results. Thus far, the experimental values of few tissue types have been reported; these values have been determined from fixated tissue samples. This study presents phase-contrast Hounsfield units for various types of non-fixated human soft tissues. A large variety of tissue specimens ranging from adipose, muscle and connective tissues to liver, kidney and pancreas tissues were imaged by a grating interferometer with a rotating-anode X-ray tube and a photon-counting detector. Furthermore, we investigated the effects of formalin fixation on the quantitative phase-contrast imaging results.
Highlights
X-ray phase-contrast computed tomography (CT) is an emerging three-dimensional (3D) imaging modality based on a fundamentally different image formation process from that of conventional attenuation-based CT [1]
Being operable at standard laboratory X-ray sources, grating interferometry may broaden the application of Xray phase-contrast CT [6], enabling quantitative assessment of material properties within investigated samples [7, 8]
The chief difference is that formalin stiffens the fixated samples, preventing their conformation to the plastic cylinder as observed for non-fixated tissues
Summary
X-ray phase-contrast computed tomography (CT) is an emerging three-dimensional (3D) imaging modality based on a fundamentally different image formation process from that of conventional attenuation-based CT [1]. It may potentially benefit future clinical diagnosis by providing additional information and enhancing soft-tissue contrast [2, 3]. A promising approach to X-ray phase-contrast imaging is grating interferometry [4, 5]. Because X-ray phase-contrast CT is not yet clinically available, research on biomedical phase-contrast imaging is currently conducted on excised and fixated tissue specimens [9,10,11,12,13]. The fixation step stabilizes the fine structural details of cells and tissues prior to examination, PLOS ONE | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0137016 August 31, 2015
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