1. An apparatus for examining a region of a patient comprising: an x-ray radiation source that directs radiation through the region: an optical storage element that receives radiation transmitted through the region at a storage region of the optical storage element, the storage region having a two dimensional surface area; a light source that illuminates the two dimensional surface area of the storage region of the optical storage element to induce a fluorescence emission of an image of the region from the storage region; a two dimensional detector array optically coupled to the optical storage element such that the array receives the fluorescence emission at a plurality of pixels and generates an electronic representation of the tissue; and a two dimensional optical coupling system that couples the image of the region onto the two dimensional detector array.