Dynamic imaging of the lungs using x-ray phase contrast

Abstract

High quality real-time imaging of lungs in vivo presents considerable challenges. We demonstrate here that phase contrast x-ray imaging is capable of dynamically imaging the lungs. It retains many of the advantages of simple x-ray imaging, whilst also being able to map weakly absorbing soft tissues based on refractive index differences. Preliminary results reported herein show that this novel imaging technique can identify and locate airway liquid and allows lung aeration in newborn rabbit pups to be dynamically visualized.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa triggers CFTR-mediated airway surface liquid secretion in swine trachea

“…1A) (16)(17)(18)(19). The position of the tissue was determined using agarose beads (20,21) that come into direct contact with the surface epithelium (Fig.…”

Effect of Sustained Inflation Length on Establishing Functional Residual Capacity at Birth in Ventilated Premature Rabbits

“…Phase contrast x-ray imaging was used to demonstrate the effect of SI duration on the rate and spatial pattern of lung aeration. Details describing the imaging and analytical procedures have been reported previously (10,16,17). The x-ray energy used was 24 keV, the detector (Hamamatsu, C4742-95HR) was located 2.0 m down stream of the pups, and a short exposure time (50 ms) and a relatively long inspiration time (1 s) were used to minimize motion blur.…”

A study on new approaches in coherent x-ray microscopy of biological specimens

“…Using hard x-ray beams 2 , the technique has been demonstrated to be well-suited for imaging macroscopic thick samples with resolutions in the micrometer range, depending mostly on the resolution of the detection system [e.g. 25,85,137]. Combined with geometric magnification provided by a 'point' source, the resolution can be significantly increased [8,48].…”

“…in the routine resolution range of current soft x-ray biological microscopy (about 40-100 nm) [81,82,126,151]. Current biological applications of propagation-based x-ray phase contrast imaging and microscopy reach from in vivo studies of small vertebrate [85] and insect [85] respiratory systems to quantitative three dimensional analysis of multicellular seed structures [24]. Parallel to the development of propagation-based coherent x-ray imaging another coherent x-ray microscopy technique has evolved, now named Coherent x-ray Diffractive Imaging (CXDI) which forms the basis for the second technique studied in this thesis.…”