KA DUAL ENERGY X-RAY SOURCE FOR CORONARY ANGIOGRAPHY

A CHARACTERISTIC-LINE X-RAY SOURCE IS PROPOSED FOR DUAL-ENERGY SUBTRACTION IMAGING OF HUMAN CORONARY ARTERIES. THE SOURCE IS BASED ON THE PRODUCTION OF THE K ALPHA LINES IN A ROTATING METAL COMPOUND TARGET BOMBARDED BY A HIGH-ENERGY ELECTRON BEAM. THE ELECTRON BEAM IS PRODUCED IN AN INEXPENSIVE, COMPACT, SINGLE-RESONATOR RF ACCELERATOR. PREDICTED AVAILABLE X-RAY FLUENCES ARE COMPATIBLE WITH IMAGING OF THE CORONARY ARTERIES AFTER AN INTRAVENOUS INJECTION OF IODINE CONTRAST AGENT. THUS, THIS TECHNIQUE HAS THE POTENTIAL FOR GREATLY REDUCING PATIENT RISKS IN DIAGNOSTIC AND FOLLOWUP ANGIOGRAPHY PROCEDURES. PHASE I WILL COMPRISE AN INVESTIGATION OF K X-RAY YIELDS AND SPECTRAL PURITY OF THE RADIATION PRODUCED FROM A TARGET BOMBARDED BY A LOW-CURRENT, HIGH-ENERGY E-BEAM, AND COMPUTER CALCULATIONS OF SIGNAL-TO-NOISE RATIO IN THE SUBTRACTION IMAGE FOR OPTIMIZATION OF X-RAY SPECTRAL CHARACTERISTICS. THE STUDY WILL CULMINATE IN THE CONCEPTUALDESIGN OF A K ALPHA X-RAY SOURCE SUITABLE FOR CLINICAL USE.