SBIR Phase I: The Transformation of X-ray Detectors for Medical Imaging

This SBIR Phase I project focuses on the development and demonstration of a new high resolution X-ray detector to be utilized (initially) in medical diagnosis. The early work by NGS Detectors and collaborators has shown an improvement in resolution by a factor of almost 10 over the X-ray detectors in current use. The focus of this Phase I project is to now improve both the resolution and efficiency of the detector (in order to reduce the x-ray dose received by patients). The initial diagnostic application is for mammography, where the improved resolution is expected to allow accurate diagnosis of suspicious features in the breast at an early stage, while reducing the false diagnoses (both positive and negative) that are recognized to be problematic. The detectors have potential application in other medical diagnostics situations, such as neonatal and cardiovascular fields, where the higher resolution is expected to extend the application of X-ray diagnostics well beyond current practice. Applications for industrial nondestructive evaluation in fields such as semiconductor manufacturing are also envisaged. This SBIR Phase I project focuses on the development and demonstration of a new high resolution X-ray scintillation detector. The indirect detector utilizes a new polymeric scintillating polymer developed by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories for security applications, and incorporates the material into an optical channel plate. The optical channel plate contains an ordered array of high quality capillaries (e.g. 10 micron diameter). The scintillating polymer absorbs X-rays, and emit photons that are channeled to pixels of an optical detector with minimal scattering. A resolution of 10 micron has already been demonstrated, an improvement of nearly an order of magnitude over both direct and indirect detectors in current use in medical diagnostics. The focus of Phase 1 is to complete the detector characterization, with a special emphasis on improving the detector efficiency in order to minimize X-ray dose rates for patients. The successful completion of Phase I will lead to a Phase II that demonstrates that the higher resolution indeed yields higher feature discrimination in realistic diagnostic situations. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.