Respiratory-gated micro-CT using a carbon nanotube based micro-focus field emission x-ray source

A prototype physiologically gated micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) system based on a field emission micro-focus x-ray source has been developed for in vivo imaging of small animal models. The novel x-ray source can generate radiation with a programmable waveform that can be readily synchronized and gated with non-periodic physiological signals. The system performance is evaluated using phantoms and sacrificed and anesthetized mouse models. Prospective respiratory-gated CT images of anesthetized free-breathing mice are collected using this scanner at 100msec temporal resolution and 10 lp/mm of 10% system MTF.

[1]  E. Ritman.  Micro-computed tomography-current status and developments. , 2004, Annual review of biomedical engineering.

[2]  Kunio Doi,et al.  A simple method for determining the modulation transfer function in digital radiography , 1992, IEEE Trans. Medical Imaging.

[3]  R Clackdoyle,et al.  Analytic method based on identification of ellipse parameters for scanner calibration in cone-beam tomography. , 2000, Physics in medicine and biology.

[4]  Wolfhard Semmler,et al.  Volumetric computed tomography (VCT): a new technology for noninvasive, high-resolution monitoring of tumor angiogenesis , 2004, Nature Medicine.

[5]  Michael J. Flynn,et al.  Microfocus X-ray sources for 3D microtomography , 1994 .

[6]  Otto Zhou,et al.  A multi-beam x-ray imaging system based on carbon nanotube field emitters , 2006, SPIE Medical Imaging.

[7]  L. Feldkamp,et al.  Practical cone-beam algorithm , 1984 .

[8]  G. Allan Johnson,et al.  Effects of breathing motion on the spatial resolution in microscopic imaging techniques of rodents , 2004, 2004 2nd IEEE International Symposium on Biomedical Imaging: Nano to Macro (IEEE Cat No. 04EX821).

[9]  D. Holdsworth,et al.  Micro-CT in small animal and specimen imaging , 2002 .

[10]  M J Paulus,et al.  High resolution X-ray computed tomography: an emerging tool for small animal cancer research. , 2000, Neoplasia.

[11]  L. Hedlund,et al.  Micro-CT with respiratory and cardiac gating. , 2004, Medical physics.

[12]  Otto Zhou,et al.  Carbon nanotube based microfocus field emission x-ray source for microcomputed tomography , 2006 .

[13]  Yuan Cheng,et al.  Dynamic radiography using a carbon-nanotube-based field-emission x-ray source , 2004 .