Cardiac MRI aids heart failure assessment, offering insights into chamber size, tissue traits, strain, and ischemia, enhancing HF diagnosis and prognosis

YouTube video by ibidi – cells in focus

X-ray phase contrast tomography can efficiently image brain tissue at subcellular resolution. Critical point drying allows a gentle replacement of interstitial material by air, enhancing X-ray phase contrast of the ultrastructural features.

Geometrical magnification and X-ray energy are optimized with respect to spatial resolution, contrast, noise, radiation dose and other image quality characteristics. The optimization is performed using a simple theoretical model of a homogeneous edge feature embedded in a bulk uniform sample, and the resulting generic analytical expressions for image quality characteristics are evaluated for several sets of parameters relevant to synchrotron-based in-line X-ray imaging setups.

A biomedical X-ray imaging quality characteristic, suitable for quantitative assessment of X-ray images of biological samples, is introduced and then applied to analysis of propagation-based X-ray phase-contrast computed tomography images of mastectomy samples.

Application of 3D phase retrieval in a multi-step, masking framework allows for strong phase retrieval to be applied near highly attenuating materials without compromising spatial resolution. Demonstrations in brain computed tomography imaging show up to a 6.8-fold improvement in signal-to-noise ratio over standard phase retrieval processes, further broadening its dose-reduction potential in potential clinical applications.

Signal-to-noise ratio and spatial resolution are quantitatively analysed in the context of propagation based X-ray phase-contrast imaging. The performance of the method is shown to be determined by the Fresnel number and the ratio of the real decrement to the imaginary part of the refractive index of the imaged object.

An analyzer-based X-ray phase contrast imaging experiment employing the forward-diffracted o-beam in a thick Bragg-case asymmetrically cut analyzer crystal has been implemented and tested in a geometry very similar to that used in conventional radiography.