Dual-energy subtraction imaging utilizing indium as a contrast agent

The purpose of our current work is to establish the minimum detection, of indium contrast agent using dual-energy subtraction imaging above and below indium K-edge. Experiments were performed on the X12 and X17B2 beamlines at the National Synchrotron Light Source using the same method but with two different set-ups. Experiments were first carried out on InCl{sub 3} solutions, then on V79 Chinese hamster cells and on BALB/c mice excised tumors, labeled with indium. For each experiment, several layers of Lucite were placed in front of the phantom to ensure a 43 mm thickness, dose to that of a mammography examination. Results were the same on X12 and X17B2. As expected, indium-free materials disappeared on subtracted images (water, steel reference and screw). Indium samples were easily distinguishable for the following concentrations: 10-5-2-1 mg/cm{sup 2}. Smaller concentrations were not clearly distinguishable and we were unable to see cell samples and tumors. To conclude, the lowest concentration we can image is around 1 mg/cm{sup 2}. These results agree with theoretical results. Such results also suggest that indium concentration in both cells and tumors is lower than 0.5 mg/cm{sup 2}. Since the current detection is dose to optimum, we conclude that dual energy subtraction imaging using indium to label tumors cells and tumors is not possible unless the indium uptake is increased by more than an order of magnitude