Abstract This study proposes digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) as a low-tube-voltage method for imaging wood artifacts treated with polyethylene glycol (PEG). In case of general clinical X-ray Computed Tomography (X-CT), PEG-impregnated wood images typically suffer from low contrast between the PEG and the tree-ring. Because X-CT uses high-tube-voltage X-rays that have high energy, they are transmitted regardless of the X-ray absorption difference of the substance, and therefore, it is not suitable for imaging PEG-impregnated wood. Mammography uses low-tube-voltage X-rays, and therefore, it is suitable for delineating substances with small X-ray absorption differences. However, although mammography can produce high-contrast images of wood, it cannot distinguish three-dimensional (3D) structures such as tree rings, because those are projection images. DBT is a type of mammography used to enhance contrast using low-tube voltage, and it enables imaging 3D structures by exposure X-rays to objects several times changing the exposure angle, and it can obtain quasi-computed tomography. Therefore, we believe that by applying DBT to dendroarchaeology, it would be possible to obtain high-contrast, high-resolution images in the visualization of the internal structure of wood. In this study, we used clinical X-CT, mammography, and DBT to obtain images of wood after PEG impregnation, and we evaluated the internal structure of the wood and the visibility of annual rings. We obtained DBT images as a tomogram with a thickness of 1 mm, which eliminated the distortion of tree rings in the sagittal direction and duplication of the PEG and the tree-ring. Further, tree-rings were easily visualized without a noticeable blur, and the DBT contrast was improved compared to clinical X-CT contrast because DBT was performed at low voltage. Important wooden artifacts excavated from ruins were preserved by PEG. Therefore, this method can be expected to become a very useful tool for dendroarchaeology when used as a complementary tool for microfocus X-CT.

中文翻译：

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通过数字乳房断层合成可视化聚乙二醇浸渍木材的内部结构

摘要 本研究提出数字乳房断层合成 (DBT) 作为一种低管电压方法，用于对聚乙二醇 (PEG) 处理的木制品进行成像。在一般临床 X 射线计算机断层扫描 (X-CT) 的情况下，PEG 浸渍的木材图像通常会受到 PEG 和树轮之间的低对比度的影响。由于 X-CT 使用高能量的高压管电压 X 射线，因此无论物质的 X 射线吸收差异如何，它们都可以透射，因此不适用于对 PEG 浸渍的木材进行成像。乳房 X 线照相术使用低管电压 X 射线，因此它适用于描绘 X 射线吸收差异很小的物质。然而，虽然乳房 X 光检查可以产生木材的高对比度图像，但它无法区分 3D (3D) 结构，例如树木年轮、因为那些是投影图像。DBT是一种使用低管电压增强对比度的乳房X线照相术，它可以通过多次改变曝光角度将X射线照射到物体上来对3D结构进行成像，并且可以获得准计算机断层扫描。因此，我们相信通过将 DBT 应用于树木考古，将有可能在木材内部结构的可视化中获得高对比度、高分辨率的图像。在这项研究中，我们使用临床 X-CT、乳房 X 光检查和 DBT 获得 PEG 浸渍后的木材图像，并评估了木材的内部结构和年轮的可见性。我们获得了厚度为 1 mm 的 DBT 图像，它消除了树轮在矢状方向上的畸变以及 PEG 和树轮的重复。更多，树轮很容易被看到而没有明显的模糊，而且与临床 X-CT 对比相比，DBT 对比度有所提高，因为 DBT 是在低电压下进行的。从废墟中挖掘出的重要木制文物由 PEG 保存。因此，当作为微焦X-CT的补充工具使用时，该方法可望成为树木考古学中非常有用的工具。