Willner Marian, Fior Gabriel, Marschner Mathias, Birnbacher Lorenz, Schock Jonathan, Braun Christian, Fingerle Alexander A, Noël Peter B, Rummeny Ernst J, Pfeiffer Franz, Herzen Julia
Department of Physics & Institute of Medical Engineering, Technische Universität München, Garching, Germany.
Institute of Forensic Medicine, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich, Germany.
PLoS One. 2015 Aug 31;10(8):e0137016. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0137016. eCollection 2015.
X-ray phase-contrast imaging is a novel technology that achieves high soft-tissue contrast. Although its clinical impact is still under investigation, the technique may potentially improve clinical diagnostics. In conventional attenuation-based X-ray computed tomography, radiological diagnostics are quantified by Hounsfield units. Corresponding Hounsfield units for phase-contrast imaging have been recently introduced, enabling a setup-independent comparison and standardized interpretation of imaging results. Thus far, the experimental values of few tissue types have been reported; these values have been determined from fixated tissue samples. This study presents phase-contrast Hounsfield units for various types of non-fixated human soft tissues. A large variety of tissue specimens ranging from adipose, muscle and connective tissues to liver, kidney and pancreas tissues were imaged by a grating interferometer with a rotating-anode X-ray tube and a photon-counting detector. Furthermore, we investigated the effects of formalin fixation on the quantitative phase-contrast imaging results.
X射线相衬成像技术是一种能实现高软组织对比度的新技术。尽管其临床影响仍在研究之中，但该技术有可能改善临床诊断。在传统的基于衰减的X射线计算机断层扫描中，放射诊断通过亨氏单位进行量化。最近已经引入了相衬成像对应的亨氏单位，从而能够进行独立于设备的比较以及对成像结果进行标准化解读。到目前为止，仅报道了少数几种组织类型的实验值；这些值是从固定组织样本中确定的。本研究给出了各种类型非固定人体软组织的相衬亨氏单位。使用带有旋转阳极X射线管和光子计数探测器的光栅干涉仪对从脂肪、肌肉和结缔组织到肝脏、肾脏和胰腺组织等多种组织标本进行了成像。此外，我们还研究了福尔马林固定对定量相衬成像结果的影响。
