title: Contrast enhancement of speckle patterns from blood in synchrotron X-ray imaging.
abstract: Hemodynamics has been a very important factor in understanding and diagnosing various vascular diseases. Recently, the X-ray particle image velocimetry (X-ray PIV) method using speckle patterns of blood has been introduced as a new quantitative visualization method for blood flows without any seeding tracer or contrast agents. In this study, the peculiar optical characteristics of blood on the synchrotron X-ray imaging method, which were not presented in previous studies, were investigated in depth and systematically. The experimental conditions required for X-ray PIV application were found to be the distance between the sample and the scintillator ( approximately 40cm), the thickening of the blood sample (>0.3mm), and hematocrit (20.0-80.0%). In addition, we verified that the X-ray PIV method is reliable as an advanced flow velocimetry by comparing the flow rate evaluated from the X-ray PIV result and the input flow rate supplied from a syringe pump with an error of less than 1%. Through this study, based on the understanding of contrast enhancement mechanisms of speckle patterns from blood, we could establish a trustworthy flow visualization method that can be used effectively in hemodynamic studies.
authors.affiliation: Center for Neural Science, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Guk Bae
authors.initials: GB
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Sang Joon
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D001775:Blood Circulation / Q000502:physiology*; D003287:Contrast Media / Q000032:analysis*; D003952:Diagnostic Imaging / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*; D006400:Hematocrit; D017356:Synchrotrons; D014965:X-Rays
chemical_list: D003287:Contrast Media