Nuclear medicine SPECT-CT machine with integrated asymmetric flat panel cone-beam CT and SPECT system

A hybrid subject imaging system, including:

• an automatic-locking extender arm, hingeably coupled by a hinge pin to a mount on a rotatable gantry and including an extendible slider plate that is coupled to a flat-panel X-ray detector;
• a cone-beam X-ray source coupled to the gantry opposite the X-ray detector, the X-ray source being movable in a longitudinal direction along a volume of interest (VOI), parallel to a longitudinal axis through the gantry;
• two nuclear detectors coupled to the gantry and having a field of view (FOV) that overlaps with a FOV of the X-ray source;
• wherein the extender arm rotates about the hinge pin approximately 90° between a stowed position flush against the mount and an operational position in which an X-ray receiving surface of the X-ray detector is slightly offset from, and faces, the X-ray source.

A method of hybrid imaging, comprising:

• rotating at least two nuclear detector heads, an X-ray source, and an X-ray detector around a patient pallet such that a field of view of the X-ray source and detector is coincident with a field of view of the nuclear detector heads;
• and
• during CT imaging, collecting truncated portions of a volume of interest (VOI) of a patient in such a manner that views from opposite halves of the VOI are collected in 180° opposite rotational orientations of a rotating gantry;
• wherein the X-ray detector is coupled to the gantry by an automatic-locking extender arm.

A hybrid subject imaging system, including:

• a locking extender arm, rotatably coupled by a first pivot point to a flat-panel X-ray detector and rotatably coupled by a second pivot point to a rotatable gantry;
• a cone-beam X-ray source coupled to the gantry opposite the X-ray detector, the X-ray source being movable in a longitudinal direction along a volume of interest (VOI), parallel to a longitudinal axis through the gantry;
• one or more nuclear detectors coupled to the gantry and having a field of view (FOV) that overlaps with a FOV of the X-ray source;
• wherein the extender arm rotates about the second pivot point approximately 90° between a stowed position flush against the gantry, and the flat-panel X-ray detector rotates about the second pivot point approximately 180°, to an operational position in which an X-ray receiving surface of the X-ray detector is slightly offset from, and faces, the X-ray source.

A hybrid patient imaging system, including:

• at least two nuclear detector heads mounted on a rotatable gantry;
• an X-ray source mounted on the gantry;
• and
• an X-ray detector mounted on the gantry opposite the X-ray source and offset relative to the X-ray source;
• wherein a field of view (FOV) of the X-ray source and a FOV of the nuclear detector heads overlap each other;
• wherein the X-ray source directs a cone-shaped X-ray beam to the offset X-ray detector;
• and
• wherein a volume of interest (VOI) is positioned partially within the FOV of the X-ray source to generate truncated views, and the gantry is rotated approximately 360° around the VOI during CT data acquisition, the FOV is truncated such that truncated 180° opposing views taken together generate a complete projection data set for the VOI.

A method of hybrid imaging, comprising:

• rotating at least two nuclear detector heads, an X-ray source, and an X-ray detector around a patient pallet such that a field of view of the X-ray source and detector is coincident with a field of view of the nuclear detector heads;
• and
• during CT imaging, collecting truncated portions of a volume of interest (VOI) of a patient in such a manner that views from opposite halves of the VOI are collected in 180° opposite rotational orientations of a rotating gantry;
• and
• prior to acquiring data with the nuclear detector heads, folding the X-ray source and detector out of the way.