%0 journal article %@ 0027-8424 %A Schleede, S.,Meinel, F.G.,Bech, M.,Herzen, J.,Achterhold, K.,Potdevin, G.,Malecki, A.,Adam-Neumair, S.,Thieme, S.F.,Bamberg, F.,Nikolaou, K.,Bohla, A.,Yildirim, A.Oe.,Loewen, R.,Gifford, M.,Ruth, R.,Eickelberg, O.,Reiser, M.F.,Pfeiffer, F. %D 2012 %J Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America: PNAS %N 44 %P 17880-17885 %R doi:10.1073/pnas.1206684109 %T Emphysema diagnosis using X-ray dark-field imaging at a laser-driven compact synchrotron light source %U https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1206684109 44 %X In early stages of various pulmonary diseases, such as emphysema and fibrosis, the change in X-ray attenuation is not detectable with absorption-based radiography. To monitor the morphological changes that the alveoli network undergoes in the progression of these diseases, we propose using the dark-field signal, which is related to small-angle scattering in the sample. Combined with the absorption-based image, the dark-field signal enables better discrimination between healthy and emphysematous lung tissue in a mouse model. All measurements have been performed at 36 keV using a monochromatic laser-driven miniature synchrotron X-ray source (Compact Light Source). In this paper we present grating-based dark-field images of emphysematous vs. healthy lung tissue, where the strong dependence of the dark-field signal on mean alveolar size leads to improved diagnosis of emphysema in lung radiographs.