Biomedical Micro-CT and Micro-angiography Systems Using High Megapixel Digital Single-lens Reflex Cameras and Synchrotron Radiation

Biomedical micro-CT and micro-angiography systems were developed as a cost effective mode for large human lung specimen imaging and intravital small animal imaging, respectively using 36M-pixel and 22M-pixel digital single-lens reflex cameras. An important benefit is that scientific grade cameras for biomedical x-ray imaging are much more expensive than consumer-grade cameras. During the past decade, advances in image sensor technology for consumer appliances have spurred the development of biomedical x-ray imaging systems using commercial digital single-lens reflex cameras fitted with high megapixel CMOS image sensors. The biomedical micro-CT system is highly specialized for visualization of the whole secondary pulmonary lobule in a large human lung specimen. The secondary pulmonary lobule, a fundamental unit of the lung structure, reproduces the lung in miniature. The micro-CT field of view is 40.6-mm-wide × 15.1 mm high with 3.07 μm pixel size. The micro-angiography system was developed for in vivo visualization of coronary, cerebral, and pulmonary arteries in rats and mice with spatial resolution in the micrometer range and temporal resolution in the millisecond range. Furthermore, synchrotron radiation has proved to be a powerful high-resolution and real-time imaging tool. Micro-CT and micro-angiography systems using single lens reflex cameras and synchrotron radiation respectively provide benefits of practical high-resolution wide-field and high-resolution high-speed performance.