Usefulness of microfocus computed tomography in life science research: preliminary study using murine micro-hepatic tumor models.

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: Microfocus computed tomography (micro-CT) has not been widely used at high radiation intensity (industrial micro-CT) in life science fields. In this preliminary study, we investigated its potential value in the detection of micro-hepatic tumors in a mouse model. METHODS: The liver with micro-hepatic tumors was surgically resected en-bloc from mice, and examined with industrial micro-CT and lower intensity micro-CT (small animal micro-CT). The number of hepatic tumors was manually counted on serial images. Then, the accuracy of each technique was determined by preparing matching liver sections and comparing the number of tumors identified in a conventional pathological examination. RESULTS: The number of hepatic tumors evaluated with industrial micro-CT showed high concordance with the results of the pathological examinations (intraclass correlation coefficient [ICC] 0.984; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.959-0.994). On the other hand, the number of hepatic tumors evaluated with the small animal micro-CT showed low concordance with the number identified in the pathological examinations (ICC 0.533; 95% CI 0.181-0.815). CONCLUSION: Industrial micro-CT improved the detection of small structures in resected specimens, and might be a promising solution for life science research.