{
  "abstract": "Objective: Intra-operative tumour margin assessment during breast-conserving surgery requires rapid, high-resolution imaging of excised tissue, allowing the surgical team to take appropriate action within a single operation. This study evaluates a custom propagation-based phase-contrast micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) system designed to meet these clinical constraints without specialised optical elements. Methods: The experimental setup pairs a microfocus x-ray source with a photon-counting detector in a cone-beam geometry. We explore how the spatial coherence of the source can provide propagation-based phase contrast -- with no additional specialised optical elements -- and balance this against maximising the x-ray flux of the cone-beam geometry. System performance was evaluated across two anode target materials and filtration configurations at various tube power settings. Imaging capabilities were validated using anthropomorphic breast tissue phantoms and a formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) breast tissue specimen, with reconstructions compared against gold-standard histology. Results: An unfiltered tungsten target operated at 40 kVp yielded optimal image quality. The optimised system achieved high-resolution CT reconstructions of a 5 cm diameter sample with an isotropic voxel size of 40.7 $\\upmu\\text{m}$ in a scan time of 12 minutes. Reconstructed volumes demonstrated strong visual correlation with corresponding histology slides. Conclusion: Combining a microfocus source with a photon-counting detector enables high-resolution, phase-contrast micro-CT within a clinically viable timeframe, demonstrating strong potential for intra-operative margin assessment.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": "2609.11124",
  "author_total": 8,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Michelle K. Croughan"
    },
    {
      "name": "Timur E. Gureyev"
    },
    {
      "name": "Jane Fox"
    },
    {
      "name": "Mikkaela McCormack"
    },
    {
      "name": "James A. Pollock"
    },
    {
      "name": "Dominic Jurkschat"
    },
    {
      "name": "Stephanie A. Harker"
    },
    {
      "name": "Marcus J. Kitchen"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/8ykgm2pm4et2k.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.48550/arxiv.2609.11124",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "8ykgm2pm4et2k",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.11124",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": "CC0-1.0",
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "arxiv",
      "physics.med-ph"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "3108|Advanced X-ray Imaging Techniques"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7212290182",
  "pdf_url": "https://arxiv.org/pdf/2609.11124",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-09-10",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/8ykgm2pm4et2k.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:20:26Z",
      "native_id": "2609.11124",
      "source": "arxiv",
      "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.11124"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "physics",
      "origin": "arxiv:physics.med-ph",
      "subfield": "biological-medical"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Phase-contrast micro-CT for intra-operative breast tumour margin assessment using a microfocus x-ray source and photon-counting detector",
  "title_text": "Phase-contrast micro-CT for intra-operative breast tumour margin assessment using a microfocus x-ray source and photon-counting detector",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:20:26Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/8ykgm2pm4et2k",
  "venue": "arXiv",
  "versions": []
}