Back to results
US 6,637,936 B2Granted
Bolus tracking x-ray positioner
AssigneeGE Medical Systems Global Technology Company, LLC
InventorsMichael M. Crain, Michael J. Pajerski
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An x-ray positioner is provided having two independently articulated arms supporting an x-ray tube and x-ray detector, respectively, that are mounted offset to the patient and controlled to track a bolus travelling through a patient. A controller is provided with feedback information regarding the bolus to determine the rate of travel, and to produce motion signals to the arms to automatically track the movement of the bolus.
Claims15
A bolus tracking x-ray positioner comprising:
- an x-ray source producing an x-ray beam directed along a source axis;
- an x-ray detector detecting x-rays received along a detector axis;
- a first and second articulated arm holding respectively the x-ray source and the x-ray detector in opposition about a patient volume for movement along a bolus path;
- an axis controller operating according to a stored program to:
- (i) receive image signals from the x-ray detector
- (ii) process the image signals to identify movement of a bolus of contrast medium within a patient;
- and
- (iii) send movement signals to the first and second articulated arms to move the x-ray source and x-ray detector to follow the bolus with movement of the bolus through the patient.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.