Clinical high-resolution phase-contrast x-ray medical imaging

X-ray imaging is a workhorse in the clinic due to its speed, low cost and relative simplicity. However, the absorption contrast mechanism conventionally used has essentially remained the same since the first image (1995). Absorption works excellent for observing hard materials (bone etc) but is less effective for soft tissue diagnostics. Phase-contrast methods shows promise for high-resolution soft-tissue imaging. However, today’s x-ray sources and systems are not applicable for clinical phase-contrast imaging, especially as regards spot size, power, and pixel size. In the present project we will explore the future phase-contrast x-ray system via simulations. This will include extending our liquid-metal-jet sources to the clinical regime (power, energy and spot size) and assessing the future photon-counting small-pixel detector system. The viability of the systems will then be assessed in observability simulations using virtual phantoms, starting with lungs and breast. The goal is to design a clinical high-resolution soft-tissue imaging system based on propagation-based phase-contrast. We believe it will compete favorably as regards speed, resolution and complexity of system with the present standard for soft-tissue imaging, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).