Interferometric phase-contrast X-ray CT imaging of VX2 rabbit cancer at 35keV X-ray energy

Imaging of large objects at 17.7-keV low x-ray energy causes huge x-ray exposure to the objects even using interferometric phase-contrast x-ray CT (PCCT). Thus, we tried to obtain PCCT images at high x-ray energy of 35keV and examined the image quality using a formalin-fixed VX2 rabbit cancer specimen with 15-mm in diameter. The PCCT system consisted of an asymmetrically cut silicon (220) crystal, a monolithic x-ray interferometer, a phase-shifter, an object cell and an x-ray CCD camera. The PCCT at 35 keV clearly visualized various inner structures of VX2 rabbit cancer such as necrosis, cancer, the surrounding tumor vessels, and normal liver tissue. Besides, image-contrast was not degraded significantly. These results suggest that the PCCT at 35 KeV is sufficient to clearly depict the histopathological morphology of VX2 rabbit cancer specimen