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US 7,254,215 B2Granted
Systems and methods for reducing radiation dosage
AssigneeGE Medical Systems Global Technology Company, LLC
InventorsSteven Gerard Ross, Thomas Louis Toth, Willi Walter Hampel, Bruce Matthew Dunham
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An imaging system including is described. The imaging system includes a radiation source configured to generate a beam, a collimator configured to collimate the beam to generate a collimated beam, and a detector configured to detect the collimated beam. The collimator is one of a first collimator with a curved contour proportional to a contour of the detector, a second collimator with blades, where slopes of two oppositely-facing surfaces of at least one of the blades are different from each other, and a third collimator having at least two sets of plates, where the plates in a set pivot with respect to each other.
Claims10
An imaging system comprising:
- a gantry comprising:
- a radiation source configured to generate a beam;
- a collimator configured to collimate the beam to generate a collimated beam;
- and
- a detector configured to detect the collimated beam, wherein the collimator is separate from said detector and comprises at least one radio opaque member having a curved contour proportional to a contour of the detector, wherein said at least one radio opaque member includes a first portion and a second portion spaced a distance from said first portion, wherein said first portion and said second portion are each configured to move along a direction substantially parallel to a rotational axis of said gantry, wherein each of said first portion and said second portion includes a first collimator point at a first collimator distance from said radiation source and a second collimator point at a second collimator distance from said radiation source, wherein said detector includes a first detector point at a first detector distance from the first collimator point and a second detector point at a second detector distance from the second collimator point, and wherein a sum of the first collimator distance and the first detector distance is equal to a sum of the second collimator distance and the second detector distance.
2 more elements
A computed tomography imaging system comprising:
- a gantry comprising:
- an x-ray source configured to generate a beam;
- a collimator configured to collimate the beam to generate a collimated x-ray beam;
- and
- a detector configured to detect the collimated x-ray beam, wherein the collimator is separate from said detector and comprises at least one radio opaque member having a curved contour proportional to a contour of the detector, wherein said at least one radio opaque member comprises a first portion and a second portion spaced a distance from said first portion, wherein said first portion and said second portion are each configured to move along a direction substantially parallel to a rotational axis of said gantry, wherein each of said first portion and said second portion includes a first collimator point at a first collimator distance from said x-ray source and a second collimator point at a second collimator distance from said x-ray source, wherein said detector includes a first detector point at a first detector distance from the first collimator point and a second detector point at a second detector distance from the second collimator point, and wherein a sum of the first collimator distance and the first detector distance is equal to a sum of the second collimator distance and the second detector distance.
2 more elements
A method for reducing dosage of radiation incident on a subject, said method comprising:
- providing a gantry that comprises a radiation source, a collimating device, and a detector;
- transmitting, from the radiation source, a beam of radiation toward the subject;
- collimating the beam of radiation before the beam reaches the subject;
- and
- detecting, by the detector, the collimated beam of radiation, wherein the collimating is performed by the collimating device that is separate from the detector and includes at least one radio opaque member having a curved contour proportional to a contour of the detector that detects the collimated beam, wherein the at least one radio opaque member includes a first portion and a second portion spaced a distance from the first portion, wherein the first portion and the second portion are each configured to move along a direction substantially parallel to a rotational axis of the gantry, wherein each of the first portion and the second portion includes a first collimator point at a first collimator distance from the radiation source and a second collimator point at a second collimator distance from the radiation source, wherein the detector includes a first detector point at a first detector distance from the first collimator point and a second detector point at a second detector distance from the second collimator point, and wherein a sum of the first collimator distance and the first detector distance is equal to a sum of the second collimator distance and the second detector distance.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.