Scientists led by the University College London (UCL) and the European Synchrotron (ESRF), have, for the first time, imaged two whole human adult hearts, one healthy and one diseased, down to the cellular level in 3D, using an innovative X-ray technique called Hierarchical Phase-Contrast Tomography (HiP-CT). This new atlas of the heart can potentially lead to medical applications. The results are published in Radiology.
To study the human heart, researchers typically use clinical imaging techniques such as Ultrasound, Computed Tomography (CT) and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). While these methods are effective for diagnosing cardiovascular disease, they do not provide detailed structural changes across the different scales within the heart. For higher resolution, histology is required, which involves slicing donor organs into sections. Although this method offers more detailed information, it significantly limits the field of view.
Now a new synchrotron X-ray imaging technique, called HiP-CT, overcomes these limitations by providing a comprehensive and detailed 3D view of the entire adult human heart. “HiP-CT provides a global view of whole donor organs at unprecedented resolution, bridging the gap between traditional imaging and histology,” says Professor Peter Lee of UCL, HiP-CT project lead.
A team led by UCL and the ESRF, in collaboration with the Wellcome Sanger Institute, Siemens Healthineers, Great Ormond Street Hospital, Hannover Medical School, the Aachen Medical University, the Helios University Clinic Wuppertal, the University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, and the Laboratoire d’Anatomie des Alpes Francaises (LADAF) has imaged two entire adult hearts, one healthy and one diseased, using the HiP-CT imaging technique on beamline BM18 at the ESRF. “BM18 is currently the only place in the world where complete human organs can be imaged with such a high level of contrast, and we are still quite far from the limits of the beamline capabilities. The main limiting factor is the processing of the very large data produced by HiP-CT”, explains Paul Tafforeau, ESRF scientist.
Read more on ESRF website
Image: Multidimensional Analysis of the Human Heart in Health and Disease using Hierarchical Phase-Contrast Tomography (HiP-CT).
Credit: Brunet et al. Radiology.