title: A dynamic micro-CT scanner based on a carbon nanotube field emission x-ray source.
abstract: Current commercial micro-CT scanners have the capability of imaging objects ex vivo with high spatial resolution, but performing in vivo micro-CT on free-breathing small animals is still challenging because their physiological motions are non-periodic and much faster than those of humans. In this paper, we present a prototype physiologically gated micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) scanner based on a carbon nanotube field emission micro-focus x-ray source. The novel x-ray source allows x-ray pulses and imaging sequences to be readily synchronized and gated to non-periodic physiological signals from small animals. The system performance is evaluated using phantoms and sacrificed and anesthetized mice. Prospective respiratory-gated micro-CT images of anesthetized free-breathing mice were collected using this scanner at 50 ms temporal resolution and 6.2 lp mm(-1) at 10% system MTF. The high spatial and temporal resolutions of the micro-CT scanner make it well suited for high-resolution imaging of free-breathing small animals.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA. gcao@physics.unc.edu
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.forename: Y Z
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authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: R
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authors.lastname: Peng
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authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: R
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authors.lastname: Rajaram
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authors.lastname: Calderon-Colon
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authors.lastname: An
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authors.lastname: Wang
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authors.lastname: Phan
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authors.lastname: Sultana
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authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Lalush
authors.forename: J P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Zhou