Development of a combined K-edge subtraction and fluorescence subtraction imaging system for small animals.

A novel combined imaging system for small animals using dilute concentrations of iodine as a contrast agent was developed for wide and pencil photon beam image acquisitions. This combined imaging system used K-edge subtraction (KES) and fluorescence subtraction imaging (FSI) and was tested at the Hard x-ray Microanalysis beamline at the Canadian Light Source. The initial wide beam KES image acquired with a charge-coupled device camera was used to identify regions of interest for further investigation and determine the location and area of the raster scan for pencil beam imaging. The pencil photon beam scanning mode acquired simultaneously KES and FSI measurements with an ionization chamber measuring the KES data and a multielement germanium detector measuring the FSI data. A description of the system is given as well as preliminary results using an iodine test object.