For years, doctors have used standard 2D X-ray to diagnose typical bone fractures, but minor breaks or soft tissue damage, such as cancer, sometimes go undiagnosed. More expensive and time-consuming MRI scans are not always appropriate for certain detection or screening purposes. Mini Das, a Moores professor at the University of Hawaii’s Colleges of Natural Sciences and Mathematics and Cullen College of Engineering, has devised a 3D solution.
Researchers at the University of Houston have created new technology that could transform medical imaging, leading to faster, more precise, and more cost-effective alternatives to standard diagnostic procedures.
Das explains in a paper published on the cover of the Journal of Medical Imaging how photon-counting detectors and novel algorithms enable more precise 3D visualization of various tissues and contrast agents by capturing X-rays at multiple energy levels at the same time, allowing for the differentiation of materials within the body.
Das says:
Right now, X-rays used in medical clinics and other industries collect incoming photons as a whole, similar to how white light contains all the colors, but they aren’t separated. So, while they can show differences in density—like distinguishing between bone and soft tissue—they can’t tell us exactly what materials are present.”
Applications in industry and medicine
Similar to how a prism divides white light into various colors, Das’s team at UH developed photon-counting detectors that can separate X-ray photons based on their energy levels. These detectors can also be used to identify particular materials, such as iodine, aluminum, plastic, or other contrast agents like gadolinium used in medical imaging.
It can be difficult to differentiate more than two or three materials at once, though, because certain materials exhibit identical X-ray characteristics despite this sophisticated detection. The detectors’ inaccuracies in separating photons based on energy also contribute to this. Das, however, is trying to solve that issue.
