We are trying to visualize our silicone capsules which are implanted in the vagina tract of the rabbit. However, we found the silicone capsules were actually not visible in either x-ray or ultrasound imaging.
I am wondering if anyone knows any specific materials that we can mix with the silicone so that it can make the capsule visible. We are using a 2-part solvent-casting silicone to fabricate the capsule thus we are thinking perhaps we can add some materials that will aid the x-ray imaging?
If anyone can share any thoughts, that would be greatly appreciated!
Thank you for the link Chenhui! Is it possible that we mix some copper powder (or another other metallic powder) into the capsule so that we can have a better contrast that way? I am not sure what wavelength we are using for the previous imaging since it was performed by others.
Capsules make nice objects for refraction-enhanced imaging, which is particularly well-suited to picking out sharp edges. See for example Applied Optics 52, 3538 (2013), Journal of Applied Physics 105, 113112 (2009), and Journal of Applied Physics 97, 063103 (2005). If you cannot see the capsules in absorption, but the x-rays transmit through the rabbit, then enhancing the edges of the capsules might just require reconfiguring your x-ray system.
Thank you Jeffrey! Those are pretty good papers.
So for now, we just found out a way to temporally solve this problem:
wrap the capsule densely using thin copper wire
And now we can see it!
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