Medical imaging applications of next-generation spectroscopic x-ray imaging detectors

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: Medical x-ray imaging has revolutionized modern medicine; greater than 200 million x-ray imaging procedures are performed each year in North America. However, x-ray imaging procedures have been associated with cancer risks, with an estimated 20,000 cancers worldwide per year attributed to radiation exposure from x-ray imaging. There is therefore an urgent need to reduce radiation exposures from x-ray imaging. The efficiency with which x-rays are used to produce an image is limited by x-ray detector technology. Improving the dose efficiency of x-ray detectors is therefore expected to reduce the amount of radiation required for x-ray imaging procedures. Advances in x-ray detector technology have led to spectroscopic x-ray detectors, which are capable of estimating the energy of individual x-ray photons at rates adequate for a wide range of medical imaging procedures. This is an entirely different approach to x-ray detection than that used in clinically-available systems, and may potentiate a new paradigm of low-dose x-ray imaging.