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US 8,804,903 B2Granted
Mammography apparatus
AssigneeSiemens Aktiengesellschaft
InventorMathias Hoernig
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A mammography apparatus has a bed unit on which, during a screening, the patient lies ventrally on a recumbent surface of the bed unit. The recumbent surface has a configuration allowing variable individual parts of the bed unit to be positioned so that the bed position of the patient is optimized and the components of the x-ray unit that are arranged below the bed unit can be positioned and aligned relative to one another such that the base of the breast to be x-rayed is also imaged.
Claims20
A mammography apparatus comprising:
- a bed unit having a bed unit surface configured to receive a ventrally positioned female patient thereon, said bed unit surface having a recess therein at a location allowing a breast of the ventrally positioned patient to proceed through said recess;
- an x-ray unit comprising an x-ray source and a radiation detector, said x-ray unit being located beneath said bed unit surface of said bed unit;
- said bed unit being subdivided into a plurality of bed parts, including at least a first bed part and second bed part, that are selectively moveable with respect to each other to form said bed unit into a configuration, dependent on individual anatomy and size of the female patient, that allows positioning of said x-ray source and said radiation detector beneath said bed unit surface to cause an entirety of the breast proceeding through the recess to be irradiated by x-rays from said x-ray source and imaged in an x-ray image detected by said radiation detector;
- and
- at least one of said bed parts being moveable to produce a depression in an underside of said bed unit, opposite to said bed unit surface, configured to permit said x-ray source to be received in said depression to cause said x-ray source to irradiate a base of the breast in the recess and to permit said radiation detector to detect x-rays irradiated by the x-ray source and attenuated by the base of the breast proceeding through the recess, while said radiation detector remains stationary.
2 more elements
A mammography apparatus comprising:
- a bed unit having a bed unit surface configured to receive a ventrally positioned female patient thereon, said bed unit surface having a recess therein at a location allowing a breast of the ventrally positioned patient to proceed through said recess;
- an x-ray unit comprising an x-ray source and a radiation detector, said x-ray unit being located beneath said bed unit surface of said bed unit;
- said bed unit being subdivided into a plurality of bed parts, including at least a first bed part and second bed part, that are selectively moveable with respect to each other to form said bed unit into a configuration, dependent on individual anatomy and size of the female patient, that allows positioning of said x-ray source and said radiation detector beneath said bed unit surface to cause an entirety of the breast proceeding through the recess to be irradiated by x-rays from said x-ray source and imaged in an x-ray image detected by said radiation detector;
- and
- at least one of said bed parts being moveable to produce a depression in an underside of said bed unit, opposite to said bed unit surface, configured to permit said x-ray source to be received in said depression to cause said x-ray source to irradiate a base of the breast in the recess and to permit said radiation detector to detect x-rays irradiated by the x-ray source and attenuated by the base of the breast proceeding through the recess, while the x-ray source and the radiation detector move in a trajectory around the base of the breast proceeding through the recess.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.