F. A. Dilmanian

Single- and dual-energy CT with monochromatic synchrotron x-rays

We explored the potential for clinical research of computed tomography (CT) with monochromatic x-rays using the preclinical multiple energy computed tomography (MECT) system at the National Synchrotron Light Source. MECT has a fixed, horizontal fan beam with a subject apparatus rotating about a vertical axis; it will be used for imaging the human head and neck. Two CdWO4-photodiode array detectors with different spatial resolutions were used. A 10.5 cm diameter acrylic phantom was imaged with MECT at 43 keV and with a conventional CT (CCT) at 80 kVp: spatial resolution approximately equal to 6.5 line pairs (lp)/cm for both; slice height, 2.6 mm for MECT against 3.0 mm for CCT; surface dose, 3.1 cGy for MECT against 2.0 cGy for CCT. The resultant image noise was 1.5 HU for MECT against 3 HU for CCT. Computer simulations of the same images with more precisely matched spatial resolution, slice height and dose indicated an image-noise ratio of 1.4:1.0 for CCT against MECT. A 13.5 cm diameter acrylic phantom imaged with MECT at approximately 0.1 keV above the iodine K edge and with CCT showed, for a 240 micrograms I ml-1 solution, an image contrast of 26 HU for MECT and 13 and 9 HU for the 80 and 100 kVp CCT, respectively. The corresponding numbers from computer simulation of the same images were 26, 12, and 9 HU, respectively. MECTs potential for use in clinical research is discussed.

Dose distribution from x‐ray microbeam arrays applied to radiation therapy: An EGS4 Monte Carlo study

We present EGS4 Monte Carlo calculations of the spatial distribution of the dose deposited by a single x-ray pencil beam, a planar microbeam, and an array of parallel planar microbeams as used in radiation therapy research. The profiles of the absorbed dose distribution in a phantom, including the peak-to-valley ratio of the dose distribution from microbeam arrays, were calculated at micrometer resolution. We determined the dependence of the findings on the main parameters of photon and electron transport. The results illustrate the dependence of the electron range and the deposited in-beam dose on the cut-off energy, of the electron transport, as well as the effects on the dose profiles of the beam energy, the array size, and the beam spacing. The effect of beam polarization also was studied for a single pencil beam and for an array of parallel planar microbeams. The results show that although the polarization effect on the dose distribution from a 3cm×3cm microbeam array inside a water phantom is large enough to be measured at the outer side of the array (16% difference of the deposited dose for x-ray beams of 200 keV), it is not detectable at the arrays center, thus being irrelevant for the radiation therapy purposes. Finally we show that to properly compare the dose profiles determined with a metal oxide semiconductor field emission transistor detector with the computational method predictions, it is important to simulate adequately the size and the material of the devices Si active element.

Calibration for measuring total body nitrogen with a newly upgraded prompt gamma neutron activation facility

A description is given of the calibration and performance of the upgraded facility at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) for measuring total body nitrogen using the technique of prompt gamma neutron activation analysis. With the improved calibration, total body nitrogen can be more accurately measured not only in normal subjects but also in obese and wasted patients. Body hydrogen is used as an internal standard. We examined the effect of a heavy-water premoderator on the uniformity of composite sensitivity, nitrogen and hydrogen measurement statistics, and dose to the subject. The calibration technique corrects the ratio of nitrogen-to-hydrogen counts measured from the subject for body size. Additionally, a correction for subcutaneous adipose tissue on the nitrogen-to-hydrogen count ratio is introduced. The newly upgraded BNL facility provides precision in counting statistics using a Remcal anthropomorphic phantom filled with a tissue-equivalent solution of 2.1% for a body dose of 0.35 mSv using a 2.5 cm D2O premoderator. The measurements were made at five 20 cm sections, counting for 200 s per section.

Performance of the Delayed- and Prompt-Gamma Neutron Activation Systems at Brookhaven National Laboratory

Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) is one of the major facilities pioneering the development of in vivo neutron activation (IVNA) techniques for body composition studies. The IVNA facility at BNL includes a delayed- and prompt-gamma neutron activation system (DGNA and PGNA), as well as an inelastic neutron scattering facility (INS). The BNL DGNA system was first fully established in the 1960’s by Cohn et al. (1969). It is composed of a total-body neutron activation facility (TBNAF) and a whole body counter (WBC), and is used to measure total body sodium, phosphorus, chlorine, and calcium. Body potassium is measured by counting endogenous 40K with the whole body counter. The PGNA system to measure total body nitrogen (TBN) was developed by Vartsky et al. (1979), and the INS system to measure total body carbon (TBC) was instituted by Kehaiyas et al. (1987). The DGNA and PGNA facilities have been upgraded and modified since they were first built.

Improvement of the prompt-gamma neutron activation facility at Brookhaven National Laboratory

The prompt-gamma neutron activation facility at Brookhaven National Laboratory was upgraded to improve both the precision and accuracy of its in vivo determinations of total body nitrogen. The upgrade, guided by Monte Carlo simulations, involved elongating and modifying the source collimator and its shielding, repositioning the systems two NaI(Tl) detectors, and improving the neutron and gamma shielding of these detectors. The new source collimator has a graphite reflector around the 238PuBe neutron source to enhance the low-energy region of the neutron spectrum incident on the patient. The gamma detectors have been relocated from positions close to the upward-emerging collimated neutron beam to positions close to and at the sides of the patient. These modifications substantially reduced spurious counts resulting from the capture of small-angle scattered neutrons in the NaI detectors. The pile-up background under the 10.8 MeV 14N(n, gamma)15N spectral peak has been reduced so that the nitrogen peak-to-background ratio has been increased by a factor of 2.8. The resulting reduction in the coefficient of variation of the total body nitrogen measurements from 3% to 2.2% has improved the statistical significance of the results possible for any given number of patient measurements. The new system also has a more uniform composite sensitivity.

Calibration of the delayed‐gamma neutron activation facility

The delayed-gamma neutron activation facility at Brookhaven National Laboratory was originally calibrated using an anthropomorphic hollow phantom filled with solutions containing predetermined amounts of Ca. However, 99% of the total Ca in the human body is not homogeneously distributed but contained within the skeleton. Recently, an artificial skeleton was designed, constructed, and placed in a bottle phantom to better represent the Ca distribution in the human body. Neutron activation measurements of an anthropomorphic and a bottle (with no skeleton) phantom demonstrate that the difference in size and shape between the two phantoms changes the total body calcium results by less than 1%. To test the artificial skeleton, two small polyethylene jerry-can phantoms were made, one with a femur from a cadaver and one with an artificial bone in exactly the same geometry. The femur was ashed following the neutron activation measurements for chemical analysis of Ca. Results indicate that the artificial bone closely simulates the real bone in neutron activation analysis and provides accurate calibration for Ca measurements. Therefore, the calibration of the delayed-gamma neutron activation system is now based on the new bottle phantom containing an artificial skeleton. This change has improved the accuracy of measurement for total body calcium. Also, the simple geometry of this phantom and the artificial skeleton allows us to simulate the neutron activation process using a Monte Carlo code, which enables us to calibrate the system for human subjects larger and smaller than the phantoms used as standards.

Producing parallel x rays with a bent-crystal monochromator and an x-ray tube

A bent Laue monochromator and a conventional x-ray tube were used to produce a fan beam that was parallel in the plane perpendicular to the plane of the fan. The x-ray fan beam was tunable in energy and had about 12% energy bandwidth at a slice height of 5 mm when tuned to 50 keV. The beams energy was slightly coupled to the vertical position on the beams height. The slice height could be varied from 1 to 10 mm. The flux at 50 keV was approximately 2x10(6) photons/mm2/s with a rotating anode tungsten x-ray tube operating at 120 kVp and 100 mA. The narrow energy bandwidth of the beam produced is advantageous over a conventional divergent polychromatic beam for all radiography applications, while the parallelism of the beam enhances its intensity by about threefold and offers some advantages for computed tomography.

A bent Laue–Laue monochromator for a synchrotron-based computed tomography system

Abstract We designed and tested a two-crystal bent Laue–Laue monochromator for wide, fan-shaped synchrotron X-ray beams for the program multiple energy computed tomography (MECT) at the National Synchrotron Light Source (NSLS). MECT employs monochromatic X-ray beams from the NSLSs X17B superconducting wiggler beamline for computed tomography (CT) with an improved image quality. MECT uses a fixed horizontal fan-shaped beam with the subjects apparatus rotating around a vertical axis. The new monochromator uses two Czochralski-grown Si 〈1 1 1〉 crystals, 0.7 and 1.4 mm thick, respectively, and with thick ribs on their upper and lower ends. The crystals are bent cylindrically, with the axis of the cylinder parallel to the fan beam, using 4-rod benders with two fixed rods and two movable ones. The bent-crystal feature of the monochromator resolved the difficulties we had had with the flat Laue–Laue design previously used in MECT, which included (a) inadequate beam intensity, (b) excessive fluctuations in beam intensity, and (c) instability of the shape of the beams horizontal profile. Compared with that earlier monochromator, the bent Laue–Laue device tested at 42 and 108 keV showed about a 10-fold larger beam flux, about 5 times better beam stability, 10-fold less harmonic contamination, and a smaller energy bandwidth at certain bending radii. The present work gave us better understanding of the basis for the beam-smiling effect in bent-crystal monochromators, and allowed us to refine the theoretical method of estimating the beam-harmonic contamination in bent-crystal monochromators.

A modified bottle manikin phantom for in vivo neutron activation analysis

An artificial skeleton was designed and placed inside a bottle manikin absorber phantom to provide a new reference standard for measurements of total body calcium by in vivo neutron activation analysis at Brookhaven National Laboratory. The composition of the epoxy-based calcium and phosphorus mixture used to construct the skeleton, the dimensions and weight of each bone are given for two phantoms representing an adult male and female. Also, the dimensions, composition, and weights of overlays designed to simulate the influence of obesity on in vivo neutron activation analysis are given for each.

Interpretation of bent-crystal rocking curves using phase-space diagrams

Abstract In developing a double bent-Laue crystal monochromator for synchrotron-based monochromatic computed tomography system, we applied a special projection of the phase-space diagram to interpret the shape of bent crystal rocking curves. Unlike the rigorous approach of the ray-tracing method, this graphical method provides direct pictures that allow checks of the physical significance of the shapes of the rocking curves, thereby providing quick guidelines for matching two bent crystals. The methods usefulness is demonstrated with our experimental results, and its limitations are discussed.