Office Contact Info.
Phone: (631) 344-3604
Fax: (631) 344-2358
Mail address: Bldg. 490
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Research Interests
- Microbeam Radiation therapy
- Monochromatic x-ray radiography
- CT Diffraction-enhanced radiography and CT
- Avraham Dilmanians work focuses on the use of x-ray beams from the National
Synchrotron Light Source (NSLS) in radiation therapy and medical imaging. Microbeam
radiation therapy (MRT), which uses arrays of parallel, microplanar slices of x-ray
microbeams, each typically 50 µm thick and up to several centimeters high, typically
spaced 200 µm apart, has shown two remarkable effects on laboratory vertebrates. First,
single-fraction microbeam irradiation does not damage normal tissues at doses where
conventional broad beams produce several tissue damage. Second, single-fraction MRT kills
some types of malignant tumor models by irradiation from a single direction, at doses safe
to normal tissues. The method is being further studied for its potential in radiotherapy.
Dilmanian has been a pioneer in the filed of computed tomography (CT) using monochromatic
x rays. His current research includes, first, development of bent-crystal monochromators
for narrowing the x-ray energy spectrum in clinical angiography and CT, to be used in
conjunction with new contrast agents based on gadolinium from Schering AG, Germany.
Second, his group, together with Dr. Zhong Zhong of the NSLS, have been the first to
implement, in the CT mode, the new mammography method "Diffraction-Enhance Imaging
(DEI)". They plan to extend the method to higher-energy beams (40-100 keV) for
whole-body radiography and CT.
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