THE APPLICATION OF CHANNELING RADIATION TO ANGIOGRAPHY

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The purpose of the proposed work is to conduct an evaluation of channeling radiation for the non-invasive assessment of coronary artery disease in humans. The high brightness, laser-like collimation, linear polarization, and quasimonochromaticity of channeling radiation make it an ideal source of x-rays for medical applications. Recent experiments using synchrotron emission as a source of x-rays, coupled with in vivo detection of iodine by digital subtraction angiography, have produced dramatic visualizations of the coronary arteries in canine subjects. We propose to demonstrate that channeling radiation from thin silicon crystals, utilizing electrons from a moderate energy accelerator (30 MeV) is a viable and less costly alternative source of hard x-rays than synchrotron radiation. We would exploit the quasi-monochromatic properties to maximize the sharpness of the diagnostic images and to minimize the radiation dose to the patient.