CT with monochromatic synchrotron x rays and its potential in clinical research

Abstract

A monochromatic CT for imaging the human head and neck is being developed at the National Synchrotron Light Source. We compared the performance of this system, multiple energy computed tomography [MECT], with that of a conventional CT [CCT] using phantoms. The advantage in image contrast of MECT, with its beam energy turned just above the K-edge of contrast element, over CCT carried out at 120 kVp, was {approx} 3.2-fold for iodine and {approx} 2.2 fold for gadolinium. Image noise was compared by simulations because this comparison requires matching the spatial resolutions of the two systems. Simulations at a 3-rad dose and 3-mm slice height on an 18-cm-diameter acrylic phantom, with MECT operating at 60.5 keV, showed that image noise for MECT was 1.4 HU vs. 1.8 HU for CCT. Simulations in the dual energy quantitative CT [DEQCT] mode showed a two-fold advantage for MECT in image noise, as well as its superior quantification. MECT operated in the planar mode revealed fatty tissue in the body of rat using xenon K-edge subtraction. Our initial plan for clinical application of the system is to image the composition of carotid artery plaques non-invasively, separating the plaques` main constituents: the fatty, fibrous, and calcified tissues