THE SCATTERING OF X-RAYS CAN BE USED TO IMAGE THE DENSITY OFANATOMICAL STRUCTURES UP TO SEVERAL CENTIMETERS DEEP IN THE HUMAN BODY.

THE SCATTERING OF X-RAYS CAN BE USED TO IMAGE THE DENSITY OFANATOMICAL STRUCTURES UP TO SEVERAL CENTIMETERS DEEP IN THE HUMAN BODY. THIS RESEARCH DESCRIBES A TECHNIQUE OF USING COMPTOM SCATTERED X-RAYS IN AN IPSILATERAL (BACKSCATTER) GEOMETRY TO OBTAIN THREE-DIMENSIONAL DENSITY INFORMATION FORMAXILLODENTAL IMAGING. THE TECHNIQUE IS CALLED COMPTON SCATTER TOMOGRAPHY (CST). CURRENTLY, IN THIS ANATOMICAL REGION, ONLY TWO-DIMENSIONAL SUPERPOSITION SHADOWGRAPHS (STANDARD RADIOGRAPHY) ARE USED FOR OTHER THAN EXCEPTIONAL CASES. COST, RADIATION DOSE, AND AVAILABILITY OF FACILITIESARE THE MAJOR IMPEDIMENTS TO USING CST OR NMR MORE ROUTINELY. IT IS PROPOSED TO DEVELOP A LOWER COST, MEDIUM RESOLUTION (1MM) IMAGING DEVICE ABOUT THE SIZE OF A STANDARDX-RAY UNIT WITH A PROJECTED PATIENT DOSE OF 300MREM. FROM THE THREE-DIMENSIONAL DATA, NONSUPERPOSITION, TWO- DIMENSIONAL CROSS-SECTIONS OF ARBITRARY ORIENTATION WILL BE DISPLAYED ON A CRT MONITOR. IN PHASE I RESEARCH, DESIGN TRADEOFFS WILL BE STUDIED WITH COMPUTER SIMULATIONS. THEN TWO SIMPLE GEOMETRIC OBJECTS WILL BE IMAGED TO VERIFY THE TECHNIQUE. PHASE II WILL BUILD A PROTOTYPE. CST IS BEST SUITED FOR IMAGING NEAR THE SURFACE, SO APPLICATION AREAS OTHER THAN MAXILLODENTAL MAY BE OTORHINOLARENGOLOGY, SPINAL IMAGING, AND ORTHOPEDICS.