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Angiography and Doppler methods used for diagnosing vascular diseases give information on the shape of blood vessels and pointwise blood speed but do not provide detailed information on the flow fields inside the blood vessels. In this study, we developed a method for visualizing blood flow by using coherent synchrotron x rays. This method, which does not require the addition of any contrast agent or tracer particles, visualizes the flow pattern of blood by enhancing the diffraction and interference characteristics of the blood cells. This was achieved by optimizing the sample- (blood) to-detector (charge-coupled device camera) distance and the sample thickness. The proposed method was used to extract quantitative velocity field information from blood flowing inside an opaque microchannel by applying a two-frame particle image velocimetry algorithm to enhanced x-ray images of the blood flow. The measured velocity field data showed a flow structure typical of flow in a macrochannel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An x-ray particle image velocimetry (PIV) technique was developed to measure quantitative information on flows inside opaque objects. To acquire x-ray images suitable for PIV velocity field measurements, refraction-based edge enhancement was employed using detectable tracer particles with the object and detector separated by an experimentally determined optimal distance. The x-ray PIV method was applied to a flow in an opaque Teflon tube. The resulting amassed velocity field data were in reasonable agreement with theoretical predictions. © 2003 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A compact x-ray particle image velocimetry (PIV) system employing a medical x-ray tube as a light source was developed to measure quantitative velocity field information of opaque flows. The x-ray PIV system consists of a medical x-ray tube, an x-ray charge coupled device camera, a programmable shutter for a pulse-type x ray, and a synchronization device. Through performance tests, the feasibility of the developed x-ray PIV system as a flow measuring device was verified. To check the feasibility of the developed system, we tested a tube flow at two different mean velocities of 1 and 2 mm/s. The x-ray absorption of tracer particles must be quite different from that of working fluid to have a good contrast in x-ray images. All experiments were performed under atmospheric pressure condition. This system is unique and useful for investigating various opaque flows or flows inside opaque conduits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]