WIREDGOV

A new method of taking highly detailed x-ray images of bone using powerful laser beams has been developed by researchers at Imperial College London, in collaboration with the lasers team at the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC).

The technology is at an early stage but the researchers believe that with further development, it could ultimately enable doctors to make an early diagnosis of bone problems such as osteoporosis, without needing to take a biopsy.

Osteoporosis is a condition that weakens bones, making them fragile and more likely to break. According to the NHS more than 300,000 people receive hospital treatment every year for fragility fractures (fractures that occur from standing height or less) as a result of osteoporosis so this technology has the potential to improve the lives of many people.

The x-rays were produced using a laser wakefield accelerator – a compact type of particle accelerator developed at Imperial.

For the first time, the researchers identified and tested a medical application for this type of accelerator by demonstrating that x-rays, produced as the electrons accelerate, can be used to create high-resolution images of dense material such as bones.

Their results, published yesterday in Scientific Reports, show that it is possible to use their x-ray source to produce three-dimensional images of bone samples at resolutions of around 50 microns. This would allow clinicians to spot features within the bone that were finer than a human hair – at around 100 microns thick.

The scientists are now working on refining their technique and exploring how the technology could be adapted for use in a hospital. In particular, work is underway to also miniaturise the laser system that underpins this work so that the whole system can be made to fit into a hospital imaging department.

“Wakefield accelerators have been developed with the idea that they could make the accelerators used in high-energy physics experiments, such as at CERN, much more compact and thus cheaper. However, those same benefits could see wakefield accelerators being used in other applications of accelerators, such as in generating high quality beams of x-rays” says research team leader Professor Zulfikar Najmudin, of the John Adams Institute for Accelerator Science in the Physics Department at Imperial.

The team have been developing their technique at STFC’s Central Laser Facility, based at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire.

“This demonstration of high resolution x-ray imaging builds on many years of research conducted using our world-leading systems – in this case the Gemini laser – and brings together experienced researchers from different fields”, says STFC’s  Dr Dan Symes, one of the research team.