US 6,725,084 B2 · Apparatus for measuring nonuniform attenuation in a scintillation camera

Abstract

An apparatus for measuring the nonuniform attenuation caused by a patient's body in scintillation cameras is disclosed. The apparatus comprises a gantry having an annular support, a radiation source mounted on the annular support for emitting a radiation which is incident on the patients body, a dedicated radiation detector mounted on the annular support in opposed relation to the radiation source for detecting the radiation transmitted through the patient's body and a mechanism for rotating the annular support around the patient's body. The annular support defines at the center a cylindrical space where the patient's body is located along the longitudinal axis of the cylindrical space. The radiation source and radiation detector are rotated by 180 degrees around the longitudinal direction of the patients body while the radiation source scans the patient in the transversal direction such that the radiation attenuation in all directions around the patient's body can be measured.

Claims24

Dependent claims

An apparatus for measuring the attenuation of radiation caused by a patient's body lying in the field(s) of view of a scintillation camera, the apparatus comprising:

(a) a gantry having a support, said support defining a space where the patient's body, in use, is located along a longitudinal axis defined by said space, said gantry supporting a scintillation detector head which comprises a first scintillation detector and a second scintillation detector fixed relative to each other in the form of a “V” shape;
(b) a radiation source, disposed at the apex defined by said “V” shape, for emitting radiation, said radiation being incident on the patient's body during use;
(c) a dedicated radiation detector, mounted on said support in opposed relation to said radiation source, for detecting said radiation transmitted through the patient's body;
(d) said radiation source being adapted to emit said radiation in the form of a beam which sweeps through a selected angle, and said radiation detector being adapted to move in synchronization with the sweeping motion of said beam whereby to detect the attenuation of radiation caused by the patient's body.

1 more element

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Apparatus for measuring nonuniform attenuation in a scintillation camera

Life of this patent

Apparatus for measuring nonuniform attenuation in a scintillation camera

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims24