X-ray micro-tomography system for small-animal imaging with zoom-in imaging capability.
Since a micro-tomography system capable of microm-resolution imaging cannot be used for whole-body imaging of a small laboratory animal without sacrificing its spatial resolution, it is desirable for a micro-tomography system to have local imaging capability. In this paper, we introduce an x-ray micro-tomography system capable of high-resolution imaging of a local region inside a small animal. By combining two kinds of projection data, one from a full field-of-view (FOV) scan of the whole body and the other from a limited FOV scan of the region of interest (ROI), we have obtained zoomed-in images of the ROI without any contrast anomalies commonly appearing in conventional local tomography. For experimental verification of the zoom-in imaging capability, we have integrated a micro-tomography system using a microfocus x-ray source, a 1248 x 1248 flat-panel x-ray detector, and a precision scan mechanism. The mismatches between the two projection data caused by misalignments of the scan mechanism have been estimated with a calibration phantom, and the mismatch effects have been compensated in the image reconstruction procedure. Zoom-in imaging results of bony tissues with a spatial resolution of 10 lp mm(-1) suggest that zoom-in micro-tomography can be greatly used for high-resolution imaging of a local region in small-animal studies.
Department of Biomedical Engineering, Kyung Hee University, Korea.
In Kon
IK
Chun
Myung Hye
MH
Cho
Sang Chul
SC
Lee
Min Hyoung
MH
Cho
Soo Yeol
SY
Lee
D000465:Algorithms; D000818:Animals; D002138:Calibration; D004867:Equipment Design; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D015233:Models, Statistical; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging; D011856:Radiographic Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods*; D013552:Swine; D014054:Tomography; D014056:Tomography, X-Ray / Q000379:methods*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D014965:X-Rays