Figure 3
Potential of XDF imaging. (a) Two regions of interest with similar attenuation signals but different XDF behavior showcase the diagnostic potential of XDF imaging. (b) Scatterplot comparing healthy lung tissue (red) with intact alveolar interfaces and a strong XDF signal vs. the air-filled stomach (yellow) with no internal microstructure, and thus a small XDF value. As the XDF signal strength is directly correlated to the number of alveolar interfaces, a loss of the latter due to respiratory diseases, as indicated in the example of histopathological slices in (c), can be diagnosed even if the attenuation signal remains unaltered. The diagnostic window ranges up to the point where no alveoli are left, which is the case e.g. in a pneumothorax. For this extreme case, the air-filled stomach is considered only as a demonstrative model here.
