Department of Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, University College London, Malet Place, Gower Street, London, United Kingdom.
X-Tek Systems-Nikon, Tring Business Centre, Icknield Way, Tring, Hertfordshire, UK.
Sci Rep. 2017 May 19;7(1):2187. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-02412-w.
X-ray phase contrast imaging (XPCI) is an innovative imaging technique which extends the contrast capabilities of 'conventional' absorption based x-ray systems. However, so far all XPCI implementations have suffered from one or more of the following limitations: low x-ray energies, small field of view (FOV) and long acquisition times. Those limitations relegated XPCI to a 'research-only' technique with an uncertain future in terms of large scale, high impact applications. We recently succeeded in designing, realizing and testing an XPCI system, which achieves significant steps toward simultaneously overcoming these limitations. Our system combines, for the first time, large FOV, high energy and fast scanning. Importantly, it is capable of providing high image quality at low x-ray doses, compatible with or even below those currently used in medical imaging. This extends the use of XPCI to areas which were unpractical or even inaccessible to previous XPCI solutions. We expect this will enable a long overdue translation into application fields such as security screening, industrial inspections and large FOV medical radiography - all with the inherent advantages of the XPCI multimodality.
X 射线相衬成像（XPCI）是一种创新的成像技术，它扩展了“传统”基于吸收的 X 射线系统的对比度能力。然而，到目前为止，所有的 XPCI 实现都受到以下一个或多个限制：低 X 射线能量、小视野（FOV）和长采集时间。这些限制将 XPCI 限制为一种“仅研究”的技术，其在大规模、高影响力应用方面的未来不确定。我们最近成功设计、实现和测试了一种 XPCI 系统，该系统在同时克服这些限制方面取得了重大进展。我们的系统首次结合了大视野、高能和快速扫描。重要的是，它能够以低 X 射线剂量提供高质量的图像，与甚至低于目前在医学成像中使用的剂量兼容。这将 XPCI 的应用扩展到以前的 XPCI 解决方案无法实现或甚至无法实现的领域。我们预计这将使 XPCI 多模态的固有优势能够及时转化到安全检查、工业检测和大视野医疗放射照相等应用领域。
