Fig. 2

PCCT cross-sectional image of PDAC provides comparable information to conventional histology. A representative virtual 2D slice of the reconstructed 3D volume of a human PDAC punch biopsy (a) shows typical features of pancreatic cancer lesions: irregular small to medium size gland formations (igf) with intraductal epithelial proliferation (arrows). Note, that the accumulated cell nuclei can be identified due to their higher X-ray density. Most of the narrow duct lumina contain a mucous secret, which is clearly visible (hashtag). In addition, the desmoplastic stroma (white asterisks) shows infiltrations of dense lymphocytes (white arrow heads) as well as lymphatic vessels (lv) and blood vessels (bv), most likely veins. Smooth muscle fibres (sm) pervade the desmoplastic tissue and are clearly visible. H&E (b) and Movat’s pentachrome stain (c) of corresponding paraffin tissue sections of the punch biopsy confirmed the existence of the morphological structures visualized by virtual X-ray based histology in a). Note, that mucous secreting goblet cells as revealed by Movat’s pentachrome stain (arrow heads) are not detectable in the X-ray histological image. Antibody staining against CK-18 (d, red) marks cells of epithelial origin and depicts the multi-layered desmoplastic epithelium of the proliferating pancreatic glands (d, arrows). More details are presented from the magnification of a corresponding image section within b-d