Application specific emission and transmission tomography

A gantry for dedicated 3-dimensional tomographic imaging of a target body part, comprising:

• an imaging device support assembly including an imaging device support and a motorized and computer controlled translation assembly for displacing said imaging device support relative to a said body part;
• a rotary support assembly for rotating said imaging device support assembly about a rotary axis thereof, for displacing said imaging device support about a periphery of said body part, at a radius of rotation determined at least in part by said imaging device support assembly;
• and
• at least one imaging device pivotally mounted to said imaging device support,
• wherein said imaging device is selectively pivoted at said pivot mounting with respect to said imaging device support during imaging, so that a face of said imaging device can be selectively disposed generally parallel to a surface of the body part,
• wherein at least one of said imaging device support assembly and said rotary support assembly is height adjustable during imaging to determine a spacing of the imaging device from said body part,
• wherein said translation assembly is configured to provide selective displacement of the imaging device support, during imaging, through an angle φ about a pivot axis perpendicular to said rotation axis, and
• wherein at least one of said imaging device support and said translation assembly is configured to selectively radially displace the imaging device mounted thereto, during imaging, relative to the rotation axis,
• whereby said imaging device can be selectively moved during imaging along a 3D path that defines a curved 3-dimensional surfaces, to acquire data to generate a 3-dimensional image, and will, while traveling in a downward arc toward a pole of the target body part, move vertically downward and Divot to continue to face the surface of the body part being imaged.

A gantry for dedicated 3-dimensional tomographic imaging of a body part, comprising:

• an imaging device support assembly including an imaging device support and a translation assembly for displacing said imaging device support relative to a said body part;
• a rotary support assembly for rotating said imaging device support assembly about a rotary axis thereof, for displacing said imaging device support about a periphery of said body part, at a radius of rotation determined at least in part by said imaging device support assembly;
• an imaging device mounted to said imaging device support, wherein said imaging device comprises a gamma camera or a detector for Positron Emission Tomography (PET);
• and
• an X-ray source and an X-ray detector disposed diametrically opposite said X-ray source, said X-ray source and X-ray detector being disposed such that a line extending from said X-ray source to said X-ray detector is disposed at an angle to an axis of said imaging device,
• wherein at least one of said imaging device support assembly and said rotary support assembly is height adjustable to determine a spacing of an imaging device mounted to said imaging device support from said body part,
• wherein said imaging device support assembly is configured to provide selective displacement of an imaging device mounted thereto through an angle φ about a pivot axis perpendicular to said rotation axis, and
• wherein at least one of said imaging device support and said translation assembly is configured to selectively radially displace an imaging device mounted thereto relative to the rotation axis.