X-ray phase tomography is an imaging technique that uses penetrating¹ X-rays to create volumetric views through "slices" or sections of soft biological tissues, such as tumors, and it offers strongly enhanced contrast compared to conventional CT scans. Yet scientists still do not know which X-ray phase tomography methods are best suited to yield optimized² results for a wide variety of conditions. To answer this question, a large group of researchers in Europe set out to compare three different X-ray phase tomography methods at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility's (ESRF) beamline ID19 in France -- X-ray grating interferometry, propagation-based phase tomography with single-distance phase reconstruction³, and holotomography.

 

Led by Irene Zanette, a scientist affiliated⁴ with both ESRF and the Technische Universität München (TUM) in Germany, the researchers put these three techniques to the test by examining cancerous tissue from a mouse model and an entire rat's heart, which they report this week in the Journal of Applied⁵ Physics, from AIP Publishing.

 

Along with colleagues Bert Müller, group leader of the Biomaterials Science Center in Switzerland, and Timm Weitkamp, a scientist at the Synchrotron SOLEIL in France, the team explored which method performs best in terms of spatial⁶ resolution and visualization/quantification of relevant features in the samples. They also investigated other related factors such as the simplicity⁷ of the setup, and the data acquisition and analysis involved in each method.

 

To do this, the researchers chose to exploit synchrotron radiation, which produces significantly higher-quality X-rays than conventional X-ray generators⁸ such as those found in hospitals.

 

What exactly is synchrotron radiation? "Think of synchrotron radiation as being analogous⁹ to the sort of monochromatic¹⁰, collimated and intense light produced by lasers, while conventional X-ray generators in hospitals are more analogous to light bulbs we use within our homes," explained Zanette, currently a postdoctoral scientist in biomedical physics at TUM in Germany.

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