Determination of linear x-ray attenuation coefficients of pathological brain tissues and use of filters in tissue contrast enhancement in computed tomography

X-ray attenuation coefficients are used in common radiological, pathological and spectroscopic examinations and in the determination of the radiation dose distribution in biological tissues. In radiology, these coefficients enable diagnosis by differentiating the abnormal tissues from the normal ones using their morphological structure and contrast differences. In this study, our aim is to precisely determine the linear x-ray attenuation coefficients of pathological brain tissues and to use x-ray beam filters to enhance the tissue contrast in computed tomography. To directly measure the relative linear attenuation coefficients, an energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy system (EDXRS-Canberra, Si(Li) with DSA-1000 spectrum analyzer 1998; CT, USA) was used with collimators and a medical-purpose x-ray tube (Siemens, Siremobil, 1985; Erlangen, Germany) in a linear geometry. Using a Mo filter with Computed Tomography CT and photon energies from 15 to 25 keV, EDXRS acquisitions were found to significantly distinguish grades of brain tumors (p