Desktop micro-CT with a nanotube field emission x-ray source for high-resolution cardiac imaging

Guohua Cao; Xiomara Calderon-Colon; Laurel Burk; Yueh Z. Lee; Shabana Sultana; Jianping Lu; Otto Zhou

doi:10.1117/12.844173

22 March 2010 Desktop micro-CT with a nanotube field emission x-ray source for high-resolution cardiac imaging

Guohua Cao, Xiomara Calderon-Colon, Laurel Burk, Yueh Z. Lee, Shabana Sultana, Jianping Lu, Otto Zhou

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 7622, Medical Imaging 2010: Physics of Medical Imaging; 76222B (2010) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.844173
Event: SPIE Medical Imaging, 2010, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

We have previously reported the development of a dynamic micro-CT scanner with a stationary mouse bed using a compact carbon nanotube (CNT) field emission x-ray tube and preliminary results on its utility for prospectively gated cardiac imaging. In this paper we report the recent progress in improving the performance characteristics of this scanner. Through optimization of the CNT cathode, the stable emission current has been increased. The output power of the CNT x-ray source has reached ~100W peak power at 100μm focal spot size. The higher flux enables improvement of the xray energy spectrum to minimize the beam hardening effect and increasing the system temporal resolution by using shorter x-ray exposure time. The scanner's temporal resolution has been increased to ~10 msec, which is sufficient for high-resolution micro-CT imaging of mouse heart and lung under free-breathing setting. The spatial resolution is maintained at 6.2 lp per mm at 10% system MTF. The nanotube micro-CT scanner's application in mouse cardiac imaging has been demonstrated with high-resolution (80 μm and 15 msec) micro-CT of the mouse heart under freebreathing setting.

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Guohua Cao, Xiomara Calderon-Colon, Laurel Burk, Yueh Z. Lee, Shabana Sultana, Jianping Lu, and Otto Zhou "Desktop micro-CT with a nanotube field emission x-ray source for high-resolution cardiac imaging", Proc. SPIE 7622, Medical Imaging 2010: Physics of Medical Imaging, 76222B (22 March 2010); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.844173

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