Phase retrieval‐based phase‐contrast CT for vascular imaging with microbubble contrast agent

Tang, Rongbiao; Li, Yongfang; Qin, Le; Yan, Fuhua; Yang, Guo‐Yuan; Chen, Kemin

doi:10.1002/mp.14819

Cited by 6 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…For X-ray phase contrast, often adopted for imaging soft tissues (Walsh et al, 2021;Bravin et al, 2013;Busse et al, 2018;To ¨pperweien et al, 2018), the strong edge-enhancing effect from gas bubbles (Wilkins et al, 1996;Tsai et al, 2002) largely eclipses the inherent phase contrast from (unstained) soft tissues (Wen et al, 2013). Although exogenous micrometre-sized bubbles (microbubbles) may be injected into the sample to enhance contrast (La ˚ng et al, 2019;Tang et al, 2021), their uncon-trolled creation during X-ray irradiation (Bras et al, 2021) is detrimental to long scans required for high-resolution imaging of large samples (Walsh et al, 2021) or for in vivo dynamic monitoring in developmental biology (Moosmann et al, 2013), physiology (Leong et al, 2014) and beyond. Due to bubble growth and their motion, the experiments need to be interrupted and the sample reprocessed to mitigate the strong imaging artifacts (Xian et al, 2022) [see Figs.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A closer look at high-energy X-ray-induced bubble formation during soft tissue imaging

Xian,

Brunet,

Huang

et al. 2024

J Synchrotron Radiat

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Improving the scalability of tissue imaging throughput with bright, coherent X-rays requires identifying and mitigating artifacts resulting from the interactions between X-rays and matter. At synchrotron sources, long-term imaging of soft tissues in solution can result in gas bubble formation or cavitation, which dramatically compromises image quality and integrity of the samples. By combining in-line phase-contrast imaging with gas chromatography in real time, we were able to track the onset and evolution of high-energy X-ray-induced gas bubbles in ethanol-embedded soft tissue samples for tens of minutes (two to three times the typical scan times). We demonstrate quantitatively that vacuum degassing of the sample during preparation can significantly delay bubble formation, offering up to a twofold improvement in dose tolerance, depending on the tissue type. However, once nucleated, bubble growth is faster in degassed than undegassed samples, indicating their distinct metastable states at bubble onset. Gas chromatography analysis shows increased solvent vaporization concurrent with bubble formation, yet the quantities of dissolved gasses remain unchanged. By coupling features extracted from the radiographs with computational analysis of bubble characteristics, we uncover dose-controlled kinetics and nucleation site-specific growth. These hallmark signatures provide quantitative constraints on the driving mechanisms of bubble formation and growth. Overall, the observations highlight bubble formation as a critical yet often overlooked hurdle in upscaling X-ray imaging for biological tissues and soft materials and we offer an empirical foundation for their understanding and imaging protocol optimization. More importantly, our approaches establish a top-down scheme to decipher the complex, multiscale radiation–matter interactions in these applications.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A closer look at high-energy X-ray-induced bubble formation during soft tissue imaging

Xian,

Brunet,

Huang

et al. 2024

J Synchrotron Radiat

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show abstract

“…For X-ray phase contrast, often adopted for imaging soft tissues[6], [15]– [17], the strong edge-enhancing effect from gas bubbles[18], [19] often largely eclipses the inherent phase contrast from (unstained) soft tissues[20]. Although exogenous micrometer-sized bubbles (microbubbles) may be injected into the sample to enhance contrast[21], [22], their uncontrolled creation during X-ray irradiation[23] is detrimental to long scans often required for high-resolution imaging of large samples[6] or for in vivo dynamic monitoring in developmental biology[8] and physiology[24]. Due to bubble growth and their motion, the experiments need to be interrupted and the sample reprocessed to mitigate the strong imaging artifacts[25] (see Fig.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A closer look at high-energy X-ray-induced bubble formation during soft tissue imaging

Xian

Brunet

Huang

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Improving the scalability of tissue imaging throughput with bright, coherent X-rays requires identifying and mitigating artifacts resulting from the interactions between X-rays and matter. At synchrotron sources, long-term imaging of soft tissues in solution can result in gas bubble formation or cavitation, which dramatically compromises image quality and integrity of the samples. By combining in-line phase-contrast cineradiography with operando gas chromatography, we were able to track the onset and evolution of high-energy X-ray-induced gas bubbles in ethanol-embedded soft tissue samples for tens of minutes (2 to 3 times the typical scan times). We demonstrate quantitatively that vacuum degassing of the sample during preparation can significantly delay bubble formation, offering up to a twofold improvement in dose tolerance, depending on the tissue type. However, once nucleated, bubble growth is faster in degassed than undegassed samples, indicating their distinct metastable states at bubble onset. Gas chromatography analysis shows increased solvent vaporization concurrent with bubble formation, yet the quantities of dissolved gases remain unchanged. Coupling features extracted from the radiographs with computational analysis of bubble characteristics, we uncover dose-controlled kinetics and nucleation site-specific growth. These hallmark signatures provide quantitative constraints on the driving mechanisms of bubble formation and growth. Overall, the observations highlight bubble formation as a critical, yet often overlooked hurdle in upscaling X-ray imaging for biological tissues and soft materials and we offer an empirical foundation for their understanding and imaging protocol optimization. More importantly, our approaches establish a top-down scheme to decipher the complex, multiscale radiation-matter interactions in these applications.

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“…Similar to confocal microscopy, CT has also been used to observe the muscular structures of unstained whole zebrafish at a high sub-cellular resolution [ 14 ]. Although the scattered signals produced by microbubble contrast agents negatively affect the internal information obtained from CT images, CT has been employed to accurately visualize the 3D architecture of murine cardiovascular vessels [ 15 ], while dark-field scattering CT images have also successfully detected cracks inside teeth to diagnose the causes of tooth pain [ 16 ]. In addition, CT image patterns can be used to examine the condition of thin cartilage attached to the bones of patients and provide important clues for diagnosing inflammation and pain associated with cartilage [ 17 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Acquisition of a single grid-based phase-contrast X-ray image using instantaneous frequency and noise filtering

2022

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Background To obtain phase-contrast X-ray images, single-grid imaging systems are effective, but Moire artifacts remain a significant issue. The solution for removing Moire artifacts from an image is grid rotation, which can distinguish between these artifacts and sample information within the Fourier space. However, the mechanical movement of grid rotation is slower than the real-time change in Moire artifacts. Thus, Moire artifacts generated during real-time imaging cannot be removed using grid rotation. To overcome this problem, we propose an effective method to obtain phase-contrast X-ray images using instantaneous frequency and noise filtering. Result The proposed phase-contrast X-ray image using instantaneous frequency and noise filtering effectively suppressed noise with Moire patterns. The proposed method also preserved the clear edge of the inner and outer boundaries and internal anatomical information from the biological sample, outperforming conventional Fourier analysis-based methods, including absorption, scattering, and phase-contrast X-ray images. In particular, when comparing the phase information for the proposed method with the x-axis gradient image from the absorption image, the proposed method correctly distinguished two different types of soft tissue and the detailed information, while the latter method did not. Conclusion This study successfully achieved a significant improvement in image quality for phase-contrast X-ray images using instantaneous frequency and noise filtering. This study can provide a foundation for real-time bio-imaging research using three-dimensional computed tomography.

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Phase retrieval‐based phase‐contrast CT for vascular imaging with microbubble contrast agent

Cited by 6 publications

References 45 publications

A closer look at high-energy X-ray-induced bubble formation during soft tissue imaging

A closer look at high-energy X-ray-induced bubble formation during soft tissue imaging

A closer look at high-energy X-ray-induced bubble formation during soft tissue imaging

Acquisition of a single grid-based phase-contrast X-ray image using instantaneous frequency and noise filtering

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