Specimen CT Scanner

Instrument

The Explore Locus SP pre-clinical Specimen Scanner (GE Medical Systems, London Ontario) is a specimen-dedicated cone-beam volume CT system which uses a tungsten source X-ray tube operating at 80 kV and 80 microamperes.

In this scanner, objects are rotated in 1.0-degree increments on a holder between the X-Ray source and CCD-based detector.

Typical scans generate eight to 28 mm isotropic voxels and require two to six hours for data acquisition. The scanner is designed to non-destructively acquire high-resolution 3D images of ex vivo specimens, ranging in size from 1 to 30 mm in diameter.

Applications

The SP CT is suited for characterization of the gross structure of bones of the rodent skeleton. Trabecular characterization (thickness, separation, number) is also possible for the bones of small animals or in large animal or clinical bone core samples. The system is also capable of bone mineral density assessment.

Geometric models (.vtk, .stl, other) can be produced by the system for applications such as finite element modeling.