Giovanni Mettivier

Preliminary test of Medisoft 4: control software for the Medipix2 read-out chip

We present here preliminary tests of Medisoft 4, a software procedure for the control and the readout of the single photon counting radiation imaging systems based on the Medipix2 chip (256/spl times/256 pixels, 55 /spl mu/m pitch). The system has been developed in the framework of the Medipix2 collaboration. This hardware and software system is the successor of the system based on the Medipix1 photon counting chip (64/spl times/64 pixels, 170 /spl mu/m pitch). Following the Medipix system evolution, Medisoft 4 allows the user to access the new implemented features such as the higher resolution, the faster data communication rates, the daisy-chain multichip mode, the energy windowed acquisition, the continuous acquisition mode, the double signal polarity (holes and electrons), etc. The readout of the data from the Medipix2 chip is presently via the chip serial bus through a MUROS2 interface board and a commercial input/output board, but a parallel readout via a is also foreseen. The current version (Medisoft 4.0), here the subject of preliminary tests connected via MUROS2 to a Medipix2 chip not bump-bonded to any detector , reads out only single chips and features a reduced set of functionalities. Future versions will read up to eight chips in daisy chain and provide full system performance, including high frame rate acquisitions and spectroscopic imaging. After a description of the Medipix2 chip, its readout interfaces and the Medisoft 4 software architecture, we show the results of preliminary software tests on serial communication protocol and speed with MUROS2 and Medipix2, analogue test input, internal digital analog converters calibration and threshold uniformity.

Towards breast tomography with synchrotron radiation at Elettra: First images

The aim of the SYRMA-CT collaboration is to set-up the first clinical trial of phase-contrast breast CT with synchrotron radiation (SR). In order to combine high image quality and low delivered dose a number of innovative elements are merged: a CdTe single photon counting detector, state-of-the-art CT reconstruction and phase retrieval algorithms. To facilitate an accurate exam optimization, a Monte Carlo model was developed for dose calculation using GEANT4. In this study, high isotropic spatial resolution (120 μm)(3) CT scans of objects with dimensions and attenuation similar to a human breast were acquired, delivering mean glandular doses in the range of those delivered in clinical breast CT (5-25 mGy). Due to the spatial coherence of the SR beam and the long distance between sample and detector, the images contain, not only absorption, but also phase information from the samples. The application of a phase-retrieval procedure increases the contrast-to-noise ratio of the tomographic images, while the contrast remains almost constant. After applying the simultaneous algebraic reconstruction technique to low-dose phase-retrieved data sets (about 5 mGy) with a reduced number of projections, the spatial resolution was found to be equal to filtered back projection utilizing a four fold higher dose, while the contrast-to-noise ratio was reduced by 30%. These first results indicate the feasibility of clinical breast CT with SR.

First images of a digital autoradiography system based on a Medipix2 hybrid silicon pixel detector

We present the first images of beta autoradiography obtained with the high-resolution hybrid pixel detector consisting of the Medipix2 single photon counting read-out chip bump-bonded to a 300 microm thick silicon pixel detector. This room temperature system has 256 x 256 square pixels of 55 microm pitch (total sensitive area of 14 x 14 mm2), with a double threshold discriminator and a 13-bit counter in each pixel. It is read out via a dedicated electronic interface and control software, also developed in the framework of the European Medipix2 Collaboration. Digital beta autoradiograms of 14C microscale standard strips (containing separate bands of increasing specific activity in the range 0.0038-32.9 kBq g(-1)) indicate system linearity down to a total background noise of 1.8 x 10(-3) counts mm(-2) s(-1). The minimum detectable activity is estimated to be 0.012 Bq for 36,000 s exposure and 0.023 Bq for 10,800 s exposure. The measured minimum detection threshold is less than 1600 electrons (equivalent to about 6 keV Si). This real-time system for beta autoradiography offers lower pixel pitch and higher sensitive area than the previous Medipix1-based system. It has a 14C sensitivity better than that of micro channel plate based systems, which, however, shows higher spatial resolution and sensitive area.

Preliminary tests of a prototype system for optical and radionuclide imaging in small animals

We have assembled a prototype system for multimodal (radionuclide and optical) in vivo planar imaging of small animals (mice) using single photon emission radiotracers (Tc-99m) and a fluorescent marker (hematoporphyrin). Preliminary tests of the separate (optical and radionuclide) prototype imaging systems are presented, aimed at assessing their features and at determining the experimental protocol for in vivo imaging. Tests were performed on anesthetized healthy or tumor bearing mice. The gamma radiation detector is a small area (11 /spl times/ 11 mm/sup 2/) hybrid pixel detector based on the Medipix1 ASIC readout technology (64 /spl times/ 64 square pixels of 170 /spl mu/m by side), bump-bonded to a 300 /spl mu/m thick silicon detector. High spatial resolution in radioimaging (in the order of 1 mm) is achieved in vivo with a pinhole tungsten collimator (0.35 mm diameter, 90/spl deg/ acceptance angle, field of view of over 20 mm at 10 mm source distance). A future setup will use the Medipix2 hybrid detector (256 /spl times/ 256 square pixels, 55 /spl mu/m by side) bump-bonded to a 1 mm thick CdTe pixel detector. The laser-induced in vivo fluorescence imaging system comprises a pulsed light source (Nd:YAG laser, /spl lambda/=532 nm, energy/pulse = 30 mJ, pulse width = 50 ps, repetition rate = 10 Hz) used to excite the fluorescence emission (600-760 nm) of injected hematoporphyrin compound, a low sensitivity CCD camera and a commercial image analysis system. Images of normal and tumor regions are acquired by using a cut-on filter (/spl lambda/>600 nm). Digital image subtraction then enhances the tumor contrast with respect to the background. The final experimental protocol, only partly implemented here, includes independent and then combined optical/radio imaging of control mice and of a solid tumoral area (human thyroid derived anaplastic carcinoma) after injection of the radiotracer and/or of the fluorophore. In this work, the accumulation of the radionuclide in selected organs and of the fluorophore in the tumor provides the signal contrast in the two imaging modalities. Fluorescence spectroscopy of excised tissue samples is also performed to help the interpretation of fluorescence images. Results of in vivo combined imaging on tumor in mice will be shown in a next paper.

Imaging performance of phase-contrast breast computed tomography with synchrotron radiation and a CdTe photon-counting detector

PURPOSE Within the SYRMA-CT collaboration based at the ELETTRA synchrotron radiation (SR) facility the authors investigated the imaging performance of the phase-contrast computed tomography (CT) system dedicated to monochromatic in vivo 3D imaging of the female breast, for breast cancer diagnosis. METHODS Test objects were imaged at 38keV using monochromatic SR and a high-resolution CdTe photon-counting detector. Signal and noise performance were evaluated using modulation transfer function (MTF) and noise power spectrum. The analysis was performed on the images obtained with the application of a phase retrieval algorithm as well as on those obtained without phase retrieval. The contrast to noise ratio (CNR) and the capability of detecting test microcalcification clusters and soft masses were investigated. RESULTS For a voxel size of (60μm)(3), images without phase retrieval showed higher spatial resolution (6.7mm(-1) at 10% MTF) than corresponding images with phase retrieval (2.5mm(-1)). Phase retrieval produced a reduction of the noise level and an increase of the CNR by more than one order of magnitude, compared to raw phase-contrast images. Microcalcifications with a diameter down to 130μm could be detected in both types of images. CONCLUSIONS The investigation on test objects indicates that breast CT with a monochromatic SR source is technically feasible in terms of spatial resolution, image noise and contrast, for in vivo 3D imaging with a dose comparable to that of two-view mammography. Images obtained with the phase retrieval algorithm showed the best performance in the trade-off between spatial resolution and image noise.

High-Resolution

We report on tests of a radionuclide imaging system for in vivo investigations in small animals with low-energy photons as from 125I (27-35 keV). Imaging optics features a high-resolution coded aperture mask and a fine pitch hybrid pixel detector (silicon 300-mum or 700-mum thick, or CdTe 1 mm thick) of the Medipix2 series (55 mum pitch, 256 x 256 pixels). The coded aperture had 480 70-mum holes in 100-mum-thick tungsten. Laboratory tests with a 109Cd 22 keV source and a microfocus X-ray tube (35 kVp, Mo anode) show a system resolution of about 110 mum at magnification m = 2.12 and a sensitivity improvement of 30:1 as compared to a 300-mum pinhole collimator. The field of view also depends on magnification: in the experiments presented, it varied from 6 mm (m = 2.12) to 21 mm (m = 0.66). 125I in vivo mouse thyroid imaging with the 70 mum coded aperture, a 300 mum pinhole and a 100 mum parallel hole collimator was also performed to obtain a qualitative comparison. This low energy, semiconductor-based, compact gamma-ray imaging system can be used as a gamma-ray sub-millimeter resolution imager for energies below about 35 keV and it is the basic imaging unit of a small animal Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography system (MediSPECT) built at University of Napoli Federico II and Istituto Nazionale Fisica Nucleare (INFN), Napoli.

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The purpose of this work is to provide an evaluation of the mean glandular dose (MGD) for breast computed tomography (CT) with synchrotron radiation in an axial scanning configuration with a partial or total organ volume irradiation, for the in vivo program of breast CT ongoing at the ELETTRA facility (Trieste, Italy). A Geant4 Monte Carlo code was implemented, simulating the photon irradiation from a synchrotron radiation source in the energetic range from 8 to 50 keV with 1 keV intervals, to evaluate the MGD. The code was validated with literature data, in terms of mammographic normalized glandular dose coefficients (DgN) and with ad hoc experimental data, in terms of computed tomography dose index (CTDI). Simulated cylindrical phantoms of different sizes (diameter at phantom base 8, 10, 12, 14 or 16 cm, axial length 1.5 times the radius) and glandular fraction by weight (0%, 14.3%, 25%, 50%, 75% and 100%) were implemented into the code. The validation of the code shows an excellent agreement both with previously published work and in terms of DgN and CDTI measurements. The implemented simulations show a dependence of the glandular dose estimate on the vertical dimension of the irradiated zone when a partial organ irradiation was implemented. Specific normalized coefficients for calculating the MGD to the whole breast or to the single irradiated slice were reported.

I Small Animal Imaging With a Coded Aperture and a Hybrid Pixel Detector

We present the design and preliminary imaging evaluation of an X-ray cone-beam breast computed tomography (CBBCT) apparatus, assembled for laboratory test of various optimization techniques for clinical CBBCT. The prototype is characterized by the computer-control of X-ray tube (35–80 kVp, 0.25 mA), CsI:Tl flat panel detector (12×12 cm2 area, 50 μm pitch), translation and rotation stages with eight degrees of freedom, fan-beam or cone-beam FDK backprojection. First tomographic images, obtained by rotating 14-cm diameter PMMA breast phantoms are presented.

Glandular dose in breast computed tomography with synchrotron radiation

We report on tests of a combined fluorescence and radionuclide planar imaging system for in vivo investigation on small animals. Combined images of anaesthetized mice bearing a surface solid tumor are presented. The fluorescent marker is a hematoporphyrin compound laser-excited with green light and imaged in the red fluorescence emission with a standard monochrome charge coupled device (CCD) camera. The gamma-ray (/sup 99m/Tc) pinhole imaging system uses a semiconductor pixel detector obtained by hybridizing a Silicon (300-/spl mu/m thick) or a CdTe (1-mm thick) pixel detector to the Medipix2 (55-/spl mu/m pitch) readout integrated circuit for single photon counting. The acquisition of combined images of the tumor area (fluorescence: animal top view; radionuclide: bottom view) shows that the tumor area can be imaged in a few minutes, with a few millimeter resolution (1-mm pinhole diameter), radioactively (/sup 99m/Tc MIBI, 74 MBq), and with the optical system. Combined imaging revealed also a different uptake of the two types of tumors studied (one grown from anaplastic human thyroid carcinoma-derived cells, the other from human papillary carcinoma-derived cells). Future progress will be toward a more compact optical setup and the use of a thicker CdTe detector.

X-ray Cone-Beam Breast Computed Tomography: Phantom Studies

A new digital imaging system for beta and gamma autoradiography has been realized. The technological advancement of this imaging system is represented by the second-generation Medipix2 chip (a single photon/particle counting chip), developed at CERN in the framework of the Medipix2 European collaboration, as a successor of the Medipix1 chip. Medipix2 is realized in 0.25 /spl mu/m CMOS technology; it has a sensitive area of 14/spl times/14 mm/sup 2/ and a pixel pitch of 55 /spl mu/m, it has been bump-bonded to a 300 /spl mu/m thick silicon pixel detector. A dedicated electronic interface and a complete image acquisition and processing software allow to operate this hybrid pixel detector for digital autoradiography with acquisition time as long as several days. In a preliminary test of this imaging system for digital autoradiography we obtained a detection threshold of 1600 electrons (equivalent to about 6 keV in Si), a noise of 10/sup -3/ cps/mm/sup 2/, a minimum detectable activity of 0.32 Bq in 14 h for /sup 3/H and 0.012 Bq in 10 h for /sup 14/C. A preliminary spatial resolution test for /sup 14/C gives a FWHM resolution of 30 /spl mu/m. Real time images of /sup 3/H, /sup 14/C, /sup 125/I autoradiographic microscales are also presented.