X-ray synchrotron diffraction tomography for using in biomedical applications

This work reports the feasibility of a nondestructive synchrotron radiation X-ray diffraction imaging technique. This research was performed at the X-ray Diffraction beam line of the National Synchrotron Light Laboratory (LNLS) in Brazil. The X-ray diffraction measurements were carried out with an 11.101 keV and the diffracted beam was detected by a fast scintillation detector. The obtained diffraction patterns form the basis of a method of characterizing tissue samples according to their atomic structure rather than X-ray attenuation properties. Two different samples were constructed in order to evaluate the capability of the technique in distinguish between two polycrystalline solids of very similar attenuation coefficients and discriminate powder materials. Each sample was scanned at both Bragg scattering angles characteristic of each scatter and at zero degree. In this way, it was possible to obtain a transmission CT image with which to compare the diffraction CT images. All the tomographic images presented have been reconstructed by using a back-projection reconstruction technique. The results encourage us to examine further the application of the two-dimensional selective method to biomedical imaging.