Due to the need for high-resolution angiographic and interventional vascular imaging, a Micro-Angiographic Fluoroscope (MAF) detector with a Control, Acquisition, Processing, and Image Display System (CAPIDS) was installed on a detector changer, which was attached to the C-arm of a clinical angiographic unit at a local hospital. The MAF detector provides high-resolution, high-sensitivity, and real-time imaging capabilities and consists of a 300 µm-thick CsI phosphor, a dual stage micro-channel plate light image intensifier (LII) coupled to a fiber optic taper (FOT), and a scientific grade frame-transfer CCD camera, providing an image matrix of 1024×1024 35 µm effective square pixels with 12 bit depth. The changer allows the MAF region-of-interest (ROI) detector to be inserted in front of the Image Intensifier (II) when higher resolution is needed during angiographic or interventional vascular imaging procedures, e.g. endovascular stent deployment. The CAPIDS was developed and implemented using Laboratory Virtual Instrumentation Engineering Workbench (LabVIEW) software and provides a user-friendly interface that enables control of several clinical radiographic imaging modes of the MAF including: fluoroscopy, roadmapping, radiography, and digital-subtraction-angiography (DSA). The total system has been used for image guidance during endovascular image-guided interventions (EIGI) for diagnosing and treating artery stenoses and aneurysms using self-expanding endovascular stents and coils in fifteen patient cases, which have demonstrated benefits of using the ROI detector. The visualization of the fine detail of the endovascular devices and the vessels generally gave the clinicians confidence on performing neurovascular interventions and in some instances contributed to improved interventions.
Keywords: Neuro-imaging; fluoroscopic detector; high-resolution imaging; neuro-endovascular image-guided interventions; x-ray imaging.