Characteristics of low-angle x-ray scattering from some biological samples.

Design of medical imaging devices based on the detection of low-angle coherent scattering is a subject of increasing interest. The technique is based on the differences in the distribution of photons coherently scattered from different body tissues. Coherent scattering is also useful in monitoring changes that may occur in a healthy tissue (e.g. carcinoma). In this work, low angle scattering properties of some tissues and tissue-equivalent materials are studied. Special care is given to the possibility of distinguishing between tissues of similar water content (e.g. muscle and blood). For this purpose, a Monte Carlo simulation is updated, introducing molecular form factor data, which include molecular interference effects. This program is used to simulate the angular distribution of scattered photons from two tissue-equivalent materials (lucite and water) and three biological samples (muscle, fat and blood). Simulation results agree well with previously measured angular distributions of scattered photons at 59.54 keV. Scattering from water and lucite is also measured at 8.047 keV. The effects of scattering geometry, sample thickness, incident photon energy and tissue type on the angular distribution of scattered photons are investigated. Results reveal the potential of measuring the full width at half maximum (FWHM) of the scattered photon distribution for tissue characterization. Energies up to 13 keV and sample thickness of 0.3 cm reported maximum differences between investigated samples. These conditions are expected to maximize the potential of using coherent scattering set-ups to monitor changes in biological samples even if their water contents are similar. Present results may act as a guide for the optimization of coherent scattering imaging systems.