Development of a prototype gantry system for preclinical x-ray phase-contrast computed tomography
- Department of Physics and Institute of Medical Engineering (IMETUM), Technische Universitaet Muenchen, 85748 Garching (Germany)
- Belgium
- Germany
Purpose: To explore the potential of grating-based x-ray phase-contrast imaging for clinical applications, a first compact gantry system was developed. It is designed such that it can be implemented into an in-vivo small-animal phase-contrast computed tomography (PC-CT) scanner. The purpose of the present study is to assess the accuracy and quantitativeness of the described gantry in both absorption and phase-contrast. Methods: A phantom, containing six chemically well-defined liquids, was constructed. A tomography scan with cone-beam reconstruction of this phantom was performed yielding the spatial distribution of the linear attenuation coefficient {mu} and decrement {delta} of the complex refractive index. Theoretical values of {mu} and {delta} were calculated for each liquid from tabulated data and compared with the experimentally measured values. Additionally, a color-fused image representation is proposed to display the complementary absorption and phase-contrast information in a single image. Results: Experimental and calculated data of the phantom agree well confirming the quantitativeness and accuracy of the reconstructed spatial distributions of {mu} and {delta}. The proposed color-fused image representation, which combines the complementary absorption and phase information, considerably helps in distinguishing the individual substances. Conclusions: The concept of grating-based phase-contrast computed tomography (CT) can be implemented into a compact, cone-beam geometry gantry setup. The authors believe that this work represents an important milestone in translating phase-contrast x-ray imaging from previous proof-of-principle experiments to first preclinical biomedical imaging applications on small-animal models.
- OSTI ID:
- 22098663
- Journal Information:
- Medical Physics, Vol. 38, Issue 11; Other Information: (c) 2011 American Association of Physicists in Medicine; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0094-2405
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Rotational micro-CT using a clinical C-arm angiography gantry
Results from the first preclinical CT scanner with grating based phase contrast and a rotating gantry