P. Poropat

Low-dose phase contrast x-ray medical imaging

Phase contrast x-ray imaging is a powerful technique for the detection of low-contrast details in weakly absorbing objects. This method is of possible relevance in the field of diagnostic radiology. In fact, imaging low-contrast details within soft tissue does not give satisfactory results in conventional x-ray absorption radiology, mammography being a typical example. Nevertheless, up to now all applications of the phase contrast technique, carried out on thin samples, have required radiation doses substantially higher than those delivered in conventional radiological examinations. To demonstrate the applicability of the method to mammography we produced phase contrast images of objects a few centimetres thick while delivering radiation doses lower than or comparable to doses needed in standard mammographic examinations (typically approximately 1 mGy mean glandular dose (MGD)). We show images of a custom mammographic phantom and of two specimens of human breast tissue obtained at the SYRMEP bending magnet beamline at Elettra, the Trieste synchrotron radiation facility. The introduction of an intensifier screen enabled us to obtain phase contrast images of these thick samples with radiation doses comparable to those used in mammography. Low absorbing details such as 50 microm thick nylon wires or thin calcium deposits (approximately 50 microm) within breast tissue, invisible with conventional techniques, are detected by means of the proposed method. We also find that the use of a bending magnet radiation source relaxes the previously reported requirements on source size for phase contrast imaging. Finally, the consistency of the results has been checked by theoretical simulations carried out for the purposes of this experiment.

An innovative digital imaging set-up allowing a low-dose approach to phase contrast applications in the medical field

Recently, new imaging modalities based on the detection of weak phase perturbations effects, among which are phase contrast and diffraction imaging, have been developed by several researchers. Due to their high sensitivity to weakly absorbing details, these techniques seem to be very promising for applications in the medical field. On the other hand, digital radiology is undergoing a wide diffusion, and its benefits are presently very well understood. Up to now, however, the strong pixel size constraints associated with phase contrast pattern detection limited the possibility of exploiting the advantages of phase contrast in digital radiology applications. In this paper, an innovative setup capable of removing the pixel size constraints, and thus opening the way to low dose digital phase contrast imaging, is described. Furthermore, we introduce an imaging technique based on the detection of radiation scattered at small angles: the information extracted from the sample is increased at no dose expense. We believe that several radiological fields, mammography being the first important example, may benefit from the herein described innovative imaging techniques.

Inclusive particle production in 400 GeV/c pp-interactions

AbstractWe report on a study of inclusive particle production in pp-interactions at 400 GeV/c. The data are based on 472 K reconstructed events recorded in the NA 27 experiment using the LEBC-EHS facility at CERN. The production cross sections are determined of pseudo scalar (π±,0, η andK±), scalar (f0(975)), vector (ρ±,0(770), ω(783), ϕ(1020),K*0(892), and

Breast tomography with synchrotron radiation: preliminary results*

\bar K^{ * 0}

Design and evaluation of AC-coupled, FOXFET-biased, “edge-on” silicon strip detectors for X-ray imaging

(892)), and tensorf0 mesons, of protons and antiprotons, and theΔ++,+,0(1232), and Λ(1520) baryon resonances in the forward hemisphere of the center of mass system, as well as longitudinal and transverse momentum distributions. The results are compared with predictions of the FRITIOF model and with other experimental data.

Silicon X-ray detector for synchrotron radiation digital radiology

Abstract The European Hybrid Spectrometer is described in its preliminary version for the NA16 charm experiment. The performance of the small hydrogen bubble chamber LEBC and the detectors of the spectrometer is discussed. In particular the combination of the bubble chamber information with the spectrometer data is described in detail. The track reconstruction efficiency is 90%. The precision with which vertices seen in the bubble chamber are reconstructed is around 10 μm and the two track resolution is 40 μm. Therefore very complex event configurations, in particular charm particle decays, can be reconstructed correctly.

Digital mammography with synchrotron radiation

A system for in vivo breast imaging with monochromatic x-rays has been designed and built at the synchrotron radiation facility Elettra in Trieste (Italy) and will be operational in 2004. The system design involves the possibility of performing both planar mammography and breast tomography. In the present work, the first results obtained with a test set-up for breast tomography are shown and discussed. Tomographic images of in vitro breasts were acquired using monochromatic x-ray beams in the energy range 20-28 keV and a linear array silicon pixel detector. Tomograms were reconstructed using standard filtered backprojection algorithms; the effect of different filters was evaluated. The attenuation coefficients of fibroglandular and adipose tissue were measured, and a quantitative comparison of images acquired at different energies was performed by calculating the differential signal-to-noise ratio of fibroglandular details in adipose tissue. All images required a dose comparable to the dose delivered in clinical, conventional mammography and showed a high resolution of the breast structures without the overlapping effects that limit the visibility of the structures in 2D mammography. A quantitative evaluation of the images proves that the image quality at a given dose increases in the considered energy range and for the considered breast sizes.

Experimental evaluation of a simple algorithm to enhance the spatial resolution in scanned radiographic systems

Abstract Results are presented of energy-dependent and energy-independent phase-shift analyses below 1.5 GeV/c for K + N→KN, I = 0 scattering.