Gated image acquisition and patient model construction

A method of acquiring image data of a patient with an imaging system, comprising:

• moving and controlling a single x-ray source tube and an associated detector along a determined path relative to the patient to acquire x-ray image data to generate a first model of the patient and a second model of the patient;
• moving a housing including the single x-ray source tube and the associated detector into a selected operating theater and to a position relative to the patient;
• moving the single x-ray source tube and the associated detector to a first selected position relative to the patient based on the determined path;
• after moving the single x-ray source tube and the associated detector to the first selected position relative to the patient based on the determined path,
• powering the single x-ray source tube at a first power to emit x-rays in a first cone of x-rays through the patient,
• powering the single x-ray source tube at a second power different from the first power to emit x-rays in a second cone of x-rays through the patient, and
• acquiring a first x-ray image data at both the first power and the second power for a first period of time at the first selected position relative to the patient;
• after the first period of time,
• powering the single x-ray source tube at the first power to emit x-rays in a third cone of x-rays through the patient,
• powering the single x-ray source tube at the second power different from the first power to emit x-rays in a fourth cone of x-rays through the patient, and
• acquiring a second x-ray image data at both the first power and the second power for a second period of time after the first period of time and at the first selected position relative to the patient;
• after acquiring the first image data and the second image data,
• differentiating between a vasculature and a surrounding tissue including the acquired first x-ray image data and the acquired second x-ray image data and based a first attenuation, including x-ray absorption or x-ray scatter, caused by the vasculature different than a second attenuation caused by the surrounding tissue within the patient;
• reconstructing a first model of a venous structure at a first location of the patient based on using the first image data at the first selected position of the single x-ray source tube and the associated detector relative to the patient, at least by the differentiating the vasculature from the surrounding tissue and by iteratively changing a first pre-formed theoretical image data projection based on the patient until the first pre-formed theoretical image data projection matches the acquired image data of the patient to form a first appropriately altered reconstruction model, and
• reconstructing a second model of an arterial structure at the first location of the patient based on using the second image data at the first selected position of the single x-ray source tube and the associated detector relative to the patient, at least by the differentiating the vasculature from the surrounding tissue and by iteratively changing a second pre-formed theoretical image data projection based on the patient until the second pre-formed theoretical image data projection matches the acquired image data of the patient to form a second appropriately altered reconstruction model;
• and
• operating a tracking system to track the imaging system and track the patient during at least acquiring the first x-ray image data and acquiring the second x-ray image data;
• wherein the first power is selected to have a first voltage of about 40 kV to about 180 kV and a first amperage of about 10 mA to about 500 mA;
• wherein the second power is selected to have a second voltage that is about 40 kV to about 60 kV different than the first voltage and a second amperage that is about 20 mA to about 150 mA than the first amperage.

A method of acquiring image data of a patient with an imaging system using imaging, comprising:

• controlling with a controller of an imaging system a selected path, including a plurality of selected movements, of a x-ray source tube during a passage of time after the start time to acquire image data of a first selected portion of the patient;
• powering the x-ray source tube to emit x-rays at a first power with a first power source to acquire a first image data at a first position along the path relative to the patient and having a first attenuation, including x-ray absorption or x-ray scatter, caused by a first tissue within the patient;
• powering the x-ray source tube to emit x-rays at a second power different from the first power with a second power source to acquire a second image data at a second position along the path relative to the patient and having a second attenuation, including x-ray absorption or x-ray scatter, caused by a second tissue different than the first attenuation caused by the first tissue within the patient;
• and
• acquiring the first image data and the second image data of the first selected portion of the patient at both the first power and the second power;
• and
• reconstructing a single model of the first selected portion of the patient including the first image data with the first attenuation, including a first x-ray absorption or x-ray scatter caused by the first tissue, and the second image data with the second attenuation, including a second x-ray absorption or x-ray scatter caused by the second tissue;
• wherein the first tissue is different than the second tissue;
• wherein reconstructing the single model includes:
• constructing a multi-phase three-dimensional model of the selected portion of the patient to illustrate (i) a first phase including a venous phase of a physiological action at a first anatomical location and (ii) a second phase including an arterial phase of the physiological action at a second anatomical location, and
• iteratively changing a pre-formed theoretical image data projection of the patient until the pre-formed theoretical image data projection matches the acquired image data of the patient to form an appropriately altered reconstruction model;
• wherein the first power is selected to have a first voltage of about 40 kV to about 180 kV and a first amperage of about 10 mA to about 500 mA;
• wherein the second power is selected to have a second voltage that is about 40 kV to about 60 kV different than the first voltage and a second amperage that is about 20 mA to about 150 mA different than the first amperage.