Medical Design and Outsourcing

  • Home
  • Medical Device Business
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Financial
    • Regulatory
  • Applications
    • Cardiovascular
    • Devices
    • Imaging
    • Implantables
    • Medical Equipment
    • Orthopedic
    • Surgical
  • Technologies
    • Contract Manufacturing
    • Components
    • Electronics
    • Extrusions
    • Materials
    • Motion Control
    • Prototyping
    • Pumps
    • Tubing
  • Med Tech Resources
    • DeviceTalks Tuesdays
    • Digital Editions
    • eBooks
    • Manufacturer Search
    • Medical Device Handbook
    • MedTech 100 Index
    • Podcasts
    • Print Subscription
    • The Big 100
    • Webinars / Digital Events
    • Whitepapers
    • Video
  • 2022 Leadership in MedTech
    • 2022 Leadership Voting!
    • 2021 Winners
    • 2020 Winners
  • Women in Medtech

New Simple Setup for X-Ray Phase Contrast

July 11, 2014 By Technische Universität München

Imaging method improved by scrambling X-rays from a new source

X-ray phase-contrast imaging can provide high-quality images of objects with lower radiation dose. But until now these images have been hard to obtain and required special X-ray sources whose properties are typically only found at large particle accelerator facilities. Using a laboratory source with unprecedented brightness, scientists from the Technische Universität München (TUM), the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm (KTH) and University College London (UCL) have demonstrated a new approach to get reliable phase contrast with an extremely simple setup.

With the new experimental setup for X-ray phase contrast imaging, three pictures can be produced at once: attenuation (left), phase contrast (center) and dark-field (right). The scientists used a plastic toy flower on a wooden support as microscopic object.

X-ray phase-contrast imaging is a method that uses the refraction of X-rays through a specimen instead of attenuation resulting from absorption. The images produced with this method are often of much higher quality than those based on absorption. The scientists in the team of Prof. Franz Pfeiffer are particularly interested in developing new approaches for biomedical X-ray imaging and therapy – including X-ray phase-contrast imaging. One main goal is to make this method available for clinical applications such as diagnosis of cancer or osteoporosis in the future.

In their new study, the scientists have now developed an extremely simple setup to produce X-ray phase-contrast images. The solution to many of their difficulties may seem counter-intuitive: Scramble the X-rays to give them a random structure. These speckles, as they are called in the field, encode a wealth of information on the sample as they travel through it. The scrambled X-rays are collected with a high-resolution X-ray camera, and the information is then extracted in a post-measurement analysis step.

High Accuracy and New X-Ray Source
Using their new technique, the researchers have demonstrated the efficiency and versatility of their approach. “From a single measurement, we obtain an attenuation image, the phase image, but also a dark-field image,” explains Dr. Irene Zanette, lead author of the publication. “The phase image can be used to measure accurately the specimen’s projected thickness. The dark-field image can be just as important because it maps structures in the specimen too small to be resolved, such as cracks or fibers in materials,” she adds.

The intensity "landscape" of the scrambled X-rays has a multitude of random bright and dark spots called speckles. These speckles are here rendered as the height of a surface. A sample placed in the beam changes slightly the position, height and depth of the hills and valleys of this landscape. These changes are analyzed to form the images of the sample.  The source’s high brightness is also key to these results. “In the source we used a liquid metal jet as the X-ray-producing target instead of the solid targets normally used in laboratory X-ray sources,” says Tunhe Zhou from KTH Stockholm, project partner of the TUM. “This makes it possible to gain the high intensity needed for phase-contrast imaging without damaging the X-ray-producing target.” To obtain all images at once, an algorithm scans the speckles and analyzes the minute changes in their shape and position caused by the specimen.

But not all components of the new instrument are products of the latest cutting-edge technology. To scramble the X-rays, “we have found that a simple piece of sandpaper did the job perfectly well,” adds Dr. Zanette.

The researchers are already working toward the next steps. “As a single-shot technique, speckle imaging is a perfect candidate for an efficient extension to phase-contrast tomography, which would give a three-dimensional insight into the microstructure of the investigated object,“ Zanette explains.

Related Articles Read More >

Dexcom One
How Dexcom’s portfolio goes beyond highly-anticipated next-gen G7
A portrait of Stryker executive Siddarth Satish
How Stryker includes users for product design in the digital age
A Medtronic HVAD pump opened up to show the inner workings
Medtronic investigates HVAD pump welds after patient deaths
Galien Foundation 2022 nominees
18 of the world’s most innovative medical technologies

DeviceTalks Weekly.

May 20, 2022
DeviceTalks Boston Post-Game – Editors’ Top Moments, Insulet’s Eric Benjamin on future of Omnipod 5
See More >

MDO Digital Edition

Digital Edition

Subscribe to Medical Design & Outsourcing. Bookmark, share and interact with the leading medical design engineering magazine today.

MEDTECH 100 INDEX

Medtech 100 logo
Market Summary > Current Price
The MedTech 100 is a financial index calculated using the BIG100 companies covered in Medical Design and Outsourcing.
DeviceTalks

DeviceTalks is a conversation among medical technology leaders. It's events, podcasts, webinars and one-on-one exchanges of ideas & insights.

DeviceTalks

New MedTech Resource

Medical Tubing

Enewsletter Subscriptions

Enewsletter Subscriptions

MassDevice

Mass Device

The Medical Device Business Journal. MassDevice is the leading medical device news business journal telling the stories of the devices that save lives.

Visit Website
MDO ad
Medical Design and Outsourcing
  • MassDevice
  • DeviceTalks
  • MedTech 100 Index
  • Medical Tubing + Extrusion
  • Drug Delivery Business News
  • Drug Discovery & Development
  • Pharmaceutical Processing World
  • R&D World
  • About Us/Contact
  • Advertise With Us
  • Subscribe to Print Magazine
  • Subscribe to E-newsletter
  • Attend our Monthly Webinars
  • Listen to our Weekly Podcasts
  • Join our DeviceTalks Tuesdays Discussion

Copyright © 2022 WTWH Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Site Map | Privacy Policy | RSS

Search Medical Design & Outsourcing

  • Home
  • Medical Device Business
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Financial
    • Regulatory
  • Applications
    • Cardiovascular
    • Devices
    • Imaging
    • Implantables
    • Medical Equipment
    • Orthopedic
    • Surgical
  • Technologies
    • Contract Manufacturing
    • Components
    • Electronics
    • Extrusions
    • Materials
    • Motion Control
    • Prototyping
    • Pumps
    • Tubing
  • Med Tech Resources
    • DeviceTalks Tuesdays
    • Digital Editions
    • eBooks
    • Manufacturer Search
    • Medical Device Handbook
    • MedTech 100 Index
    • Podcasts
    • Print Subscription
    • The Big 100
    • Webinars / Digital Events
    • Whitepapers
    • Video
  • 2022 Leadership in MedTech
    • 2022 Leadership Voting!
    • 2021 Winners
    • 2020 Winners
  • Women in Medtech