Purpose: To establish a method for mouse coronary angiography in vivo using synchrotron radiation, which is essential for physiological and pathological research on coronary diseases.
Methods: 1) The imaging parameters (e.g., photon energy, spatial resolution of the detector, and injection rate of contrast agent) optimal for the quality of acquired images in a simulation were determined. 2) Through animal experiments, the effectiveness of these optimal parameters and the repeatability of in vivo coronary angiography were verified. 3) An algorithm for background subtraction and contrast enhancement was designed and employed to compensate for the effects of interference and the effective information extracted used for diagnosing coronary disease.
Results and conclusions: An optimal set of the imaging parameters was finally determined: photon energy of 33-34 keV, detector's spatial resolution of 30 μm or higher, image capture rate of 20 f/s or more, concentration of lopamidol solution of 75% as contrast agent and a pulse injection of contrast agent at a high rate.
Keywords: Background subtraction; Coronary angiography; In vivo; Optimization; Synchrotron radiation.