Improved Diagnosis of Pulmonary Emphysema using in vivo Dark-Field Radiography

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to assess whether the recently developed method of grating-based X-ray dark-field radiography can improve the diagnosis of pulmonary emphysema in vivo. Materials and Methods: Pulmonary emphysema was induced in female C57BL/6N mice using endotracheal instillation of porcine pancreatic elastase and confirmed by in-vivo pulmonary function tests, histopathology and quantitative morphometry. Mice were anesthetized but breathing freely during imaging. Experiments were performed using a prototype small-animal X-ray dark-field scanner that was operated at 35 kVp with an exposure ti…