Final Report Summary - PHASEX (Phase contrast X-ray imaging for medicine)
The overall goal of this grant was to introduce grating-based phase contrast enhanced X-ray imaging as a novel diagnostic tool in human medicine. In the first phase of the project, we have been gaining fundamental knowledge to master medium-to-high energy grating-based phase contrast imaging (including gratings fabrication) and develop novel radiological equipment at the demonstrator/prototype level to perform phase contrast enhanced investigations at the pre-clinical stage. In a second phase, we have further refined our tools in order to implement them into a clinically compatible device for enhanced breast imaging. In this area there is a strong need for radiological investigations with improved tissue density discrimination, specifically for early breast cancer detection. The system will be used for first-of-their kind clinical trials to assess the clinical added value of phase- and dark-field imaging in breast diagnostics.