Advanced In Vivo Imaging Technology One Step Closer to Clinical Use
September 18, 2012 – 8:54 am
Image courtesy A. Tapfer/TUM
Researchers at the Technische Universität München (TUM) continue to make progress in developing a technology to improve contrast in CT scans. Led by TUM scientists, the German, Swedish, and Belgian team’s goal of producing medical images with enhanced soft tissue visibility—grating-based x-ray phase contrast—has advanced from benchtop studies to implementation in an in vivo preclinical computed tomography (CT) scanner. Reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and summarised in a press release issued by the university, the work could mark a critical step in moving beyond proof-of-concept experiments to applications, including in vivo preclinical imaging with small-animal models in the mid-term and, in the long term, medical CT scanning.
Franz Pfeiffer, TUM professor for biomedical physics and head of the research team, explains: “For several years we have worked on novel x-ray technology for improved diagnosis in medical imaging. Up until now, we could only investigate excised tissue on benchtop setups in our labs. But now, we took the step of implementing this technology in an in vivo micro-CT scanner. With this step, we bring the technology much closer to the hospital, and we hope to make it available for patients in the future.”
Find out more about the technology on the TUM website’s news page.
