THE SYNCHROTRON BEAM, A NEW DIMENSION FOR CONTRAST-MEDIA RESEARCH

Synchrotron sources can provide intense, collimated and tunable X-ray beams suitable for medical imaging and research, allowing the use of m onochromatic X-rays for human examinations. At the European Synchrotro n Radiation Facility (ESRF), a beamline dedicated to medical research is under commissioning. Two imaging programs are being developed, for coronary angiography and cerebral CT. The new monochromatic imaging sy stems should improve image contrast and provide better image quantific ation. The properties of synchrotron radiation are described, as well as the instrumentation of the medical beamline and its 2 imaging progr ams. The new possibilities offered by synchrotron radiation for contra st media research are discussed, the improvement on concentration meas urement precision achievable is underlined.