Fundamentals of X-ray Imaging

Mr S.T Gashirai

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 Introduction: The Electromagnetic
Spectrum

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 EM Spectrum Cont’d
• EM spectrum is basically the range of all EM
radiations.
• EM Radiation - stream of photons travelling in
a wave like pattern carrying energy and
moving at the speed of light.
• Only difference between radiowaves, visible
light and gamma rays is the energy of the
photons.

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 EM Spectrum Cont’d

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Ionisation
Discovery of X-rays: 8 November 1895
• Wilhelm Roentgen,
University of Wurzburg,
Germany.
• Applied a potential
difference across a partially
evacuated glass tube.
• Observed emission of light
from a fluorescent material
some distance away.
• Had to be due to radiation
produced by experiments –
x-radiation.
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 Discovery of X-rays
• Series of experiments
showed:
– New radiation could penetrate
various materials.
– Could be recorded on
photographic plates.

• Within a month of discovery,

x-rays were being explored as
medical tools in Germany,

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France, UK and USA
 Medical Imaging
• Marked the genesis of medical imaging
• Prior to this, physicians were limited in ability
to obtain information about illness and
injuries of patients.
• Essentially relied on the five senses
• What they could not see, hear, feel, taste or
smell often went undetected.
• Medical imaging provided a window into the
body without having to cut through it.
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 Medical Imaging

It ALL begins with imaging, if you can’t SEE it,

then you can’t DIAGNOSE it or TREAT it !
 The Medical Image
A medical image is a Pictorial Representation of a
measurement of an object or function of the body

Many different ways exist to acquire medical image data

 Principles of X-ray Production
• X-rays are produced by bombarding metal
targets with high speed electrons.
• Two types of interactions with the target
produce radiation:
– An interaction with electron shells
produces characteristic x-ray photons;
– Interactions with the atomic nucleus
produce Bremsstrahlung x-ray photons.

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 Principles of X-ray Production

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Principles of X-ray Production - Bremsstralung

The interaction process that produces the most photons is the

Bremsstralung process

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Principles of X-ray Production - Bremsstralung

• Electrons that pass close to a nucleus are

deflected and slowed down by the attractive
force from the nucleus.
• The energy lost by the electron during this
encounter appears in the form of an x-ray
photon.
• All electrons do not produce photons of the
same energy.

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X-ray Production – Characteristic Radiation
• Interaction occurs only if incoming electron has a Ek
> EB of orbital electron within the atom.
• Electron is dislodged from the atom and leaves a
vacancy that is filled by an electron from a higher
energy level.
• As filling electron moves down to fill the vacancy, it
gives up energy emitted in the form of an x-ray
photon.
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 Recap

• X-ray photons are produced when a metal target

is bombarded with high speed electrons
• Two interaction processes between electrons and
target material occur simultaneously:
– Interaction with atomic nucleus – Bremsstrahlung
radiation.
– Interaction with orbital electrons – Characteristic
radiation.
• X-ray photon spectrum produced is a continuum
of photon energies up to a maximum value and is
also characterised by sharp characteristic peaks.
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 The X-ray Tube and Its
Components

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 X-ray Production – The X-ray tube
• To produce Medical images with X-rays, a
source is required that:
– Produces enough x-rays in a short time
– Allows the user to vary the x-ray energy
– Provides x-rays in a reproducible fashion
– Meets standards of safety and economy of
operation
• X-ray tubes are specially designed in order to
achieve these requirements

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 X-ray Tube
• Composed of two
principle elements –
anode and cathode.
• Electrons are emitted
from a heated cathode –
thermionic emission
• Accellerated through a
large potential difference
(20kV – 120kV.
• Strike anode – x-rays are
produced.

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 X-ray Tube
• Anode – component where x-radiation is
produced.
• Has two primary functions:
– Convert electronic energy into x-rays
– Dissipate heat created in the process – x-ray
production
• Anode material is selected to enhance these
functions.

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 Use of X-rays in Imaging of
Internal Body Structures

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 X-radiation in a vacuum
• When x-ray photons radiate from a source in a
vacuum, the intensity decreases n proportion
to the inverse of the square of the distance
from the source.
• Approximately the same behaviour occurs in
air.

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 Inverse Square Law

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 X-radiation in a medium
• In a medium where absorption processes are
occuring -
• Intensity of a parallel beam decreases by a
constant fraction when passing through equal
small thickness of the medium
• Gives rise to an exponential decrease in
transmitted beam intensity.

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 Beer’s Law

I – transmitted intensity
I0 – Initial intensity
µ - Linear attenuation coefficient (cm-1)
X – Thickness of material (cm)
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 • If initial intensity and final
intensity are known –
then the nature of the
attenuator can be
deduced.
• Conversely if nature of
attenuator and initial
intensity is known – then
transmitted intensity can
be calculated
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 Recap
• X-rays traversing in a vacuum or in air follow
the inverse square law.

• X-rays traversing in matter follow beer’s law

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Computed Tomography

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 Limitations of General X-ray imaging
• In your opinion what are some of the
limitations of general x-ray imaging?

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 Problem of Superimpostion of
Structures

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 Computed Tomography
• In 1972 – Sir Godfrey Hounsfield developed
the first CT machine that could image slices.
• Slices were free of superimposition from over
and underlying structures.
• This was achieved by obtaining various
measurements at different angular positions.

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 Principles of CT

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 Principles of CT

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 Based on Hounsfield’s Scanner

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 CT IMAGE RECONSTRUCTION

 A CT image is composed of a matrix of pixels representing the

average linear attenuation co-efficient in the associated
volume elements (voxels).
 Effect of rotation is criss-crossing of x-ray beam, this creates
small discrete areas (voxels)

Diagnostic Radiology Physics: a Handbook for Teachers and Students – chapter 11, 39
 CT IMAGE RECONSTRUCTION
• Available techniques are:
• Simple Back Projection
• Simultaneous Equation Techniques
• Filtered Back projection (FBP)
• Fourier Reconstruction
• Iterative Techniques
 Simultaneous Equations
• Illustration on board. - 4 Voxel.

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 Back Projection

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 Recall
• What reconstruction
does is giving you and
intensity value.
• Intensity can be related
to µ
• µ is actually characteristic
of a particular type of
material. (i.e bone, fat,
muscle, fluid etc)

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 CT Image Presentation
• The attenuation value calculated for each voxel of the
reconstruction matrix is replaced with an integer (CT number)
calculated as follows:

μ –μ water
• CT number (in Hounsfield Units, HU) = 𝐾 𝑋 [ voxel ]
μ water
• Where μvoxel is the calculated voxel attenuation coefficient.
• K is an integer constant and is standardised as 1000 (or occasionally
as 1024).

• The full range of CT numbers spreads from -1000 to +1000, and

each number is represented visually as a shade of grey
 CT Image Presentation

A shade of grey indicating the amount of attenuation in

each voxel is assigned to the corresponding pixel
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