CT scans provide valuable details of bones and dense body parts that strongly absorb X-rays, however, the techniques struggle with the visualization of soft tissues and organs. A Compact Light Source (CLS) from the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory enables computer tomography scans that reveal more detail than routine scans performed at hospitals today.
The commercial X-ray source images cross sections of the human body and provides multimodal tomography scans. The car-sized device is a miniature version of the football-field-sized X-ray generator known as a synchrotron. The smaller synchrotron produces suitable X-rays by colliding laser light with electrons circulating in a desk-sized storage ring.
In the recent study, the researchers recorded all three imaging modes – absorption, phase contrast and dark field – at the same time. Using a total of 361 two-dimensional X-ray images of an infant mouse taken from different directions, the scientists generated cross-section images of the animal.
“The absorption images only show bones and air-filled organs,” said Elena Eggl, a researcher at the Technical University of Munich. “However, the phase-contrast and dark-field images reveal much more detail, showing different organs such as the heart and liver. We can even distinguish different types of fat tissue, which is not possible with absorption-based CT scans.”
