Imaging method and imaging apparatus, in particular for small animal imaging
OwnerThomas Mertelmeierinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An imaging method and apparatus, for small animal imaging, in which the object to be examined is treated with an activatable optical contrast medium, which preferably has a metabolically activatable mark, and irradiated by a first optical excitation source. The first radiation reflected from the object is detected by a first optical detector, and simultaneously irradiated by a second tomographic excitation source, while the second radiation transferred from the object is detected by a second tomographic detector. In this case, the second tomographic excitation source advantageously generates an X-ray radiation, so that the resulting CT image can be superposed with the optical image in order to evaluate morphological and functional information.
Claims16
An imaging method, for small animal imaging, which comprises:
- treating the object to be examined with an activatable optical contrast medium;
- irradiating said treated object by a first optical excitation source;
- detecting the first radiation reflected from the object by a first optical detector;
- simultaneously irradiating by a second tomographic excitation source;
- and
- detecting the second radiation transferred from the object by a second tomographic detector.
An imaging apparatus, for small animal imaging comprising:
- a first optical excitation source, which irradiates an object to be examined which has been treated with an activatable optical contrast medium;
- a first optical detector, which detects first radiation reflected from the object, a second tomographic excitation source which simultaneously irradiates the object to be examined;
- and
- a second tomographic detector which detects the second radiation transferred from the object.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.