X-ray phase-contrast tomosynthesis of a human ex vivo breast slice with an inverse Compton x-ray source

¹ Department of Physics and Munich School of Bioengineering, Technical University of Munich James-Franck-Str. 1, 85748 Garching, Germany
² Lund University, Medical Radiation Physics - 22185 Lund, Sweden
³ Institute for Clinical Radiology, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Hospital Munich - Marchioninistraße 15, 81377 München, Germany
⁴ Institute of Pathology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München - Thalkircher Straße 36, 80337 München, Germany
⁵ Lyncean Technologies Inc. - 44755 S. Grimmer Blvd. Ste. B, Fremont, CA 94538, USA
⁶ SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory - 2575 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park, CA 94025, USA
⁷ Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technical University of Munich - Ismaninger Str. 22, 81675 München, Germany

Received: 3 November 2016
Accepted: 20 January 2017

Abstract

While the performance of conventional x-ray tube sources often suffers from the broad polychromatic spectrum, synchrotrons that could provide highly brilliant x-rays are restricted to large research facilities and impose high investment and maintenance costs. Lately, a new type of compact synchrotron sources has been investigated. These compact light sources (CLS) based on inverse Compton scattering provide quasi-monochromatic hard x-rays. The flux and brilliance yielded by a CLS currently lie between x-ray tube sources and third-generation synchrotrons. The relatively large partially coherent x-ray beam is well suited for the investigation of preclinical applications of grating-based phase-contrast and dark-field imaging. Here we present the first grating-based multimodal tomosynthesis images of a human breast slice acquired at a CLS to investigate the possibilities of improved breast cancer diagnostics.