Research on X-ray Fluorescence Enhanced Fluoroscopy Imaging Technology

Zhenyao Yan,Liang Li,Zhiqiang Chen,Rui Qiu

doi:10.3390/photonics8100441

Abstract

Chest X-ray fluoroscopy is a commonly used medical imaging method, which has a wide range of applications in the diagnosis of lung diseases and other fields. However, due to low contrast and relatively close linear attenuation coefficients, some early small lesions are difficult to detect in time. Using the X-ray fluorescent effect of high atomic number metal elements and metal atom-containing agents that can be enriched in the lesion, the fluoroscopy signal and the fluorescent signal emitted by the metal atoms can be detected at the same time during the fluoroscopy, and the images of the two can be integrated, which can theoretically enhance the contrast between the lesion and the surrounding tissue. Based on GEANT4, this paper conducts Monte Carlo simulations to explore the feasibility and enhancement effects of three enhancement schemes: the pencil beam spot scanning method, cone-beam collimation method, and slit scanning method, and discusses the specific geometric structure and material selection.

Highlights

This article aims to design a Monte Carlo simulation system based on GEANT4 to verify the feasibility and practicability of X-ray fluorescence-enhanced fluoroscopy imaging technology, optimize the parameters and construction of the model, and strive to obtain the system with the best effect, lowest cost, and simplest structure
Because the structure of the collimator is too complicated, we did not build it in simulation but, directly based on the direction of the photons hitting on the flat-panel detector, exclude those whose directions are too different from the direction of the incident photons
We do not need to perform an additional simulation, since the simulation result of the pencil beam scanning method can be directly processed into the result of this method

Summary

Introduction

In the process of atomic de-excitation, the electrons in the outer layer fall into the holes in the inner layer, and the excess energy is emitted in the form of X-ray photons, which are fluorescence photons [3]. Since the energy difference between the inner and outer electrons of the atom is fixed, the fluorescence phenomenon will produce a large number of single-energy X-ray photons. Photons of this energy cannot come from other materials, so there will be a high contrast for the high-Z atoms that can produce the fluorescence photons in the background material. Many investigators have begun to try to use X-ray fluorescence effect for imaging, which is the so-called XFCT

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