US 2022/0054101 A1Published application

Apparatus and method for digital scan mammography

OwnerShabbir BAMBOTinventor

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Abstract

To improve breast mammography imagery via use of a digital “slot scanning” imaging system that accommodates the changing thickness of the breast from the chest wall to the nipple by scanning the breast from the chest outward to the nipple or vice versa instead of the side-to-side methodology and using Automatic Exposure Control or AEC parameters optimized for the changing thickness and composition of the breast at each scan location and an improved breast compression device, wherein uniform breast compression mechanism includes a first breast plate and a second breast plate, wherein at least one of said first breast plate and said second breast plates includes an angle adjustment or tilt to account for the high variability in breast sizes and configurations while maintaining optimal immobilization with excellent patient comfort.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A method for imaging breast tissue of a breast, the method comprising:

holding a breast between a first breast plate and a second breast plate, including angularly adjusting at least one of the first breast plate and the second breast plate to apply a substantially uniform compression force across a length of the breast orthogonal to a chest wall of a patient;
and
under control of one or more processors configured with specific executable program instructions:
precisely aligning a narrow slotted image detector with a tightly collimated line-shaped X-ray beam generated by an X-ray source;
obtaining a plurality of pre-measurements of the breast tissue of the breast along a line parallel to a chest wall of a patient to determine corresponding values for a physical parameter of the breast, including determining the thickness of the breast at a plurality of points along a length of the image detector;
determining a corresponding Automatic Exposure Control (AEC) parameter of the image detector, wherein a first AEC parameter for a first breast segment is different from a second AEC parameter for a second breast segment;
performing scan measurements using the corresponding AEC parameter.

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 17/403,246Filed 16 Aug 2021
Priority: 2 May 2017
Published: 24 Feb 2022
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification13 codes

A61B 6/502
Specially adapted for specific body parts; specially adapted for specific clinical applications: for diagnosis of breast, i.e. mammography
A61B 6/022
Arrangements for diagnosis sequentially in different planes; Stereoscopic radiation diagnosis: stereoscopic imaging
A61B 6/0414
Supports, e.g. tables or beds, for the body or parts of the body: with compression means
A61B 6/0435
Supports, e.g. tables or beds, for the body or parts of the body: with means for imaging suspended breasts

Family

Application62/500,094Us provisional application · filed 2 May 2017
Application16/499,956Division · filed 1 Oct 2019
Application17/403,246Division
US 11,090,016 B2Related patent
US 2020/0297298 A1Published application
US 2022/0054101 A1This patent

From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.