This is a relatively new imaging technology that uses three “physical mechanisms” to generate contrast. Those mechanisms are: 1) X-Ray absorption, 2) Refraction, 3) Ultra small angle scatter rejection. This technology can produce high contrast images with much lower radiation dose compared to conventional radiography.
One of the applications this technique might be useful for is to image amyloid plaques in Alzheimer’s disease. Those plaques are usually very small and difficult to visualize with other methods. This technique showed to be useful in a study imaging amyloid plaques in mice.
An interesting paper in the topic is the following:
Parham C, et al. Design and implementation of a compact low-dose Diffraction Enhanced Medical Imaging System. Academic Radiology (2009) August; 16(8): 911-917.
Adolfo Cotter, MD
Feb 10/2011
