Shift-and-add tomosynthesis of a finger joint by X-ray dark-field imaging: difference due to tomographic angle.

A tomogram of a finger joint showing articular cartilage was generated based on X-ray dark-field imaging (XDFI) using the shift-and-add tomosynthesis algorithm. The experiment was performed at beamline 14B of the Photon Factory in Tsukuba, Japan, using synchrotron X-rays from a vertical wiggler. The incident X-ray energy was 36.0 keV. The X-ray optics for XDFI comprised two Si crystals: an asymmetric cut Si (220) monochromator-collimator and a 1.1-mm thick Si (220) Laue-case analyzer. The object was an intact cadaveric proximal interphalangeal joint fixed in formalin. Raw projection data were acquired by XDFI in a total of 41 views through an angle of 20 degrees in 0.5 degrees increments. The object and detector were synchronously rotated such that the fulcrum plane in the object and detector plane remained parallel. The X-ray dose for one piece of raw projection data was set to one-eleventh of that for one standard projection image by XDFI. Eleven views through an angle of 10 degrees in increments of 1 degrees of all 41 appropriately shifted raw projection data were added to produce arbitrary tomograms parallel to the fulcrum plane. We obtained a clear tomogram of the finger joint including the articular cartilage with the moderate artifact peculiar to tomosynthesis. Consequently, arbitrary tomograms can be obtained for the same X-ray dose as that received for one standard projection image by XDFI. The fact that an inner structure such as articular cartilage, which is invisible to conventional X-ray imaging methods, has been visualized on a tomogram with preserved refraction-enhanced contrast, is of considerable significance to clinical medicine.