Synchrotron radiation applications in medical research

Conference · Sun Dec 31 04:00:00 EST 1995

OSTI ID:205065

Thomlinson, W

The medical projects employing synchrotron radiation as discussed in this paper are, for the most part, still in their infancies and no one can predict the direction in which they will develop. Both the basic research and applied medical programs are sure to be advanced at the new facilities coming on line, especially the ESRF and Spring- 8. However, success is not guaranteed. There is a lot of competition from advances in conventional imaging with the development of digital angiography, computed tomography, functional magnetic resonance imaging and ultrasound. The synchrotron programs will have to provide significant advantages over these modalities in order to be accepted by the medical profession. Advances in image processing and potentially the development of compact sources will be required in order to move the synchrotron developed imaging technologies into the clinical world. In any event, it can be expected that the images produced by the synchrotron technologies will establish ``gold standards`` to be targeted by conventional modalities. A lot more work needs to be done in order to bring synchrotron radiation therapy and surgery to the level of human studies and, subsequently, to clinical applications.

• Research Organization: Brookhaven National Lab., Upton, NY (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-76CH00016
• OSTI ID: 205065
• Report Number(s): BNL--62631; CONF-951181--1; ON: DE96005786
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

55 BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE
BASIC STUDIES
BRONCHI
COMPUTERIZED TOMOGRAPHY
CORONARIES
DIAGNOSTIC USES
MAMMARY GLANDS
RADIOTHERAPY
SYNCHROTRON RADIATION
THERAPEUTIC USES