Hard X-ray index of refraction tomography of a whole rabbit knee joint: A feasibility study

S Gasilov; A Mittone; A Horng; T Geith; A Bravin; T Baumbach; P Coan

doi:10.1016/j.ejmp.2016.10.001

Hard X-ray index of refraction tomography of a whole rabbit knee joint: A feasibility study

Phys Med. 2016 Dec;32(12):1785-1789. doi: 10.1016/j.ejmp.2016.10.001. Epub 2016 Oct 25.

Authors

S Gasilov¹, A Mittone², A Horng³, T Geith³, A Bravin⁴, T Baumbach⁵, P Coan⁶

Affiliations

¹ Institute for Beam Physics and Technology, Karlsruhe Institute for Technology, Eggenstein 76344, Germany; Department of Physics, Ludwig Maximilians University, Garching 85748, Germany. Electronic address: [email protected].
² European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, Grenoble 38043, France; Department of Physics, Ludwig Maximilians University, Garching 85748, Germany.
³ Institute for Clinical Radiology, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich 81377, Germany.
⁴ European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, Grenoble 38043, France.
⁵ Institute for Photon Science and Synchrotron Radiation, Karlsruhe Institute for Technology, Eggenstein 76344, Germany; Laboratory for Application of Synchrotron Radiation, Karlsruhe Institute for Technology, Eggenstein 76344, Germany.
⁶ Institute for Clinical Radiology, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich 81377, Germany; Department of Physics, Ludwig Maximilians University, Garching 85748, Germany.

PMID: 27793538
DOI: 10.1016/j.ejmp.2016.10.001

Abstract

We report results of the computed tomography reconstruction of the index of refraction in a whole rabbit knee joint examined at the photon energy of 51keV. Refraction based images make it possible to delineate the bone, cartilage, and soft tissues without adjusting the contrast window width and level. Density variations, which are related to tissue composition and are not visible in absorption X-ray images, are detected in the obtained refraction based images. We discuss why refraction-based images provide better detectability of low contrast features than absorption images.

Keywords: Computed tomography (CT); Differential phase-contrast imaging; Low contrast detectability; X-rays’ index of refraction.

MeSH terms

Animals
Feasibility Studies
Image Processing, Computer-Assisted
Knee Joint / diagnostic imaging*
Osteoarthritis, Knee / diagnostic imaging
Rabbits
Tomography, X-Ray Computed / methods*