University of Houston researchers developed a new X-ray imaging method capable of revealing hidden features in a single shot, a breakthrough that could advance cancer detection, disease monitoring, security screening and material analysis.
This study, soon to be published in scientific journal Optica, introduces a system that captures far more detailed diagnostic information without requiring multiple exposures or complex mechanical movement. The research was led by physics researcher Jingcheng Yuan and Mini Das, Moores professor at UH’s Cullen College of Engineering and College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics.
Conventional X-ray and CT imaging rely solely on attenuation contrast, which shows how tissues and materials absorb X-rays.
While effective for bone and large-density differences, it struggles to reveal early-stage cancers or subtle changes in microstructures like the lung’s tiny air sacs. Emerging methods that aim to overcome these limitations need complex system designs and require long exposures to capture meaningful images, leading to higher radiation doses and difficulty translating clinically.
“A lot of the methods being explored often need long imaging time because they require a system component to be moved multiple times — often over 10 or 20 times — to make these multiple image contrast,” Das said.
How It Works
To overcome these limitations, the UH team proposed and demonstrated new patent pending system designs and corresponding physics-based models.
The new configuration makes it possible to achieve three contrast types — attenuation, differential phase and dark field — from a single X-ray exposure. The design determines optimal placement of a single, slatted plate, or mask, between the X-ray source and detector.
The additional contrast types offer new insights:
- Differential phase, which Das introduced in a 2024 paper, shows how X-rays bend, enhancing visibility of boundaries, shapes and structural variations that are otherwise hard to see.
- Dark field captures how small-angle X-rays scatter from microstructures, revealing tiny structures such as lung air pockets or microscopic defects in materials.
Das said dark-field imaging may be especially promising for diagnosing lung diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, where current imaging can’t detect the microstructural changes. One can also examine changes in lung cancer and their response to therapies.
“We know there will be benefit, but how much that will help clinicians diagnose, detect and follow up for therapy monitoring is an open avenue right now,” she said.
Retrieved images of a dried fish from single-mask dark-field configuration. Image "a" shows attenuation contrast, "b" shows a dark field image, and image "c" combines attenuation and dark-field signal.
Why It Matters
The new single-shot and motion-free method produces images that are more informative, low-dose and faster — helping to lower patients’ dose of radiation, which can be especially beneficial for children and small animals.
The cost-effective design could be integrated into existing X-ray and CT systems with only minor modifications, making clinical translation feasible. The team’s next steps include adapting the system for small-animal studies and exploring clinical applications such as lung imaging and low-dose breast cancer screening.
“We expect that this will become practical, translatable,” Das said.
Beyond medicine, the technique could transform imaging for industries that rely on detecting internal defects or microstructures. Potential applications range from the petroleum industry and rock analysis, materials research and real-time monitoring of chemical or structural changes in engineered components.
“We know there will be benefit, but how much that will help clinicians diagnose, detect and follow up for therapy monitoring is an open avenue right now."
— Mini Das, UH’s Cullen College of Engineering and College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics
Das has long been at the forefront of imaging innovation, previously advancing methods that investigated the wave nature of X-rays and applying photon-counting detectors with novel algorithms to allow for more precise 3D visualization.
Her motivation traces back to her early work in developing breast CTs where it became evident that the poor contrast in X-ray radiography and CT could not always reliably detect breast cancers. X-ray mammography has relied on the same contrast mechanism for over a century.
“This is the modality that millions of women are using today for breast screening around the world,” Das said. “I realized that this is really a big problem, so when I came to Houston for my position, one of my goals was to try to change this to see how we can contribute to this field by combining physics, optics and engineering.”
Das’s interdisciplinary research is funded through multiple agencies, including the National Science Foundation, Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs and National Institutes of Health. She mentors students from physics, biomedical engineering and electrical engineering.
Das was also recently elected as a fellow of Optica, recognizing her distinguished contributions to the advancement of the field, and has been a fellow of the Society for Optics & Photonics (SPIE) since 2022.
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