Upright CT scanner
OwnerWilliam Barry Chen, Jason Andrew Cheninventors
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Abstract
In an upright CT scanner, an X-ray source and a two-dimensional digital X-ray detector are mounted on a rotating platform with a vertical axis of rotation. During scanning, the X-ray source and the detector are on opposite sides of the rotational axis for orbiting about a body to thereby scan it with pyramid-shaped X-ray beam. During scanning, the source and detector can be jointly translated along a horizontal axis that is perpendicular to the rotation axis and parallel to the detector surface, to scan a specific part of a body that is not centered or a body that is too large. The mounting height and distance of source and the detector can also be adjusted.
Claims14
An upright CT scanning apparatus comprising:
- a. an X-ray source for projecting an X-ray pyramid-shaped beam originating substantially from a point;
- b. a two dimensional radiation detector arranged opposite to said X-ray source for detecting said X-ray beam emitted by said X-ray source;
- c. a ring platform below an upright patient for rotating said X-ray source and said radiation detector around a vertical system axis at an ISO center;
- d. mechanisms directly fastened to the ring platform for linearly translating said X-ray source and said radiation detector jointly along a horizontal axis parallel to a detector surface;
- e. a controller for coordinating the rotation, translation, and timing of X-ray source emission and detector data acquisition;
- f. mechanisms for adjusting a distance between said X-ray source and said radiation detector;
- g. mechanisms for adjusting a height of said X-ray source and said radiation detector jointly;
- h. and devices for positioning the upright patient disposed in said X-ray beam.
A method for use with an upright CT scanning apparatus comprising an X-ray source for projecting an X-ray pyramid-shaped beam originating substantially from a point;
- a two dimensional radiation detector arranged opposite to said X-ray source for detecting said X-ray beam emitted by said X-ray source;
- a ring platform below a patient for rotating said X-ray source and said radiation detector around a vertical system axis at an ISO center;
- mechanisms directly fastened to the ring platform for linearly translating said X-ray source and said radiation detector jointly along a horizontal axis parallel to a detector surface;
- a controller for coordinating the rotation, translation, and timing of X-ray source emission and detector data acquisition;
- mechanisms for adjusting a distance between said X-ray source and said radiation detector;
- mechanisms for adjusting a height of said X-ray source and said radiation detector jointly;
- and devices for positioning an upright patient disposed in said X-ray beam, the method comprising the steps of:
- a. adjusting said height and said distance between said X-ray source and said detector;
- b. disposing the patient to said X-ray beam in an upright position;
- c. rotating and translating of said X-ray source and said detector during scanning;
- d. emitting said X-ray beam with said sources and acquiring data with said detector.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.