Angled Patient Bed Super-Sampling for PET Resolution
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current PET scanners do not implement super-sampling due to mechanical cumbersome and costly additional hardware requirements, despite its potential to improve image quality, as manufacturers believe it no longer adds useful information with reduced detector pixel sizes.
Innovation Solution
A method and apparatus that acquire super-sampled imaging data by translating a patient bed at a small non-zero angle relative to the scanner axis, allowing Lines of Response to pass through voxels differently, thereby enhancing resolution without additional hardware or post-reconstruction algorithms.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If super-sampling is implemented by wobbling the scanner, then image quality and resolution are improved, but device complexity and cost increase due to additional hardware
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of moving the scanner to achieve super-sampling, the patent inverts the approach by moving the patient bed in a direction at a non-zero angle relative to the scanner axis. This achieves the same super-sampling effect without requiring complex scanner movement hardware.
Solution Approach 2:
The patient bed's existing translation mechanism is utilized for super-sampling by angling it relative to the scanner axis. The bed serves dual purposes: patient positioning and super-sampling acquisition, eliminating the need for dedicated super-sampling hardware.
2Loss of information
If the scanner is wobbled for super-sampling, then useful information is obtained, but ease of operation deteriorates due to mechanical cumbersome requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The patent inverts the conventional super-sampling approach by moving the bed rather than the scanner. This simplifies operation by using the bed's existing translation capability angled at a non-zero angle, avoiding complex scanner manipulation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical scanner wobbling system with a bed translation system operating at an angle. This substitution uses simpler, more readily available mechanical capabilities to achieve the same information-gathering goal.
3Measurement precision
If additional hardware is added for scanner wobbling, then super-sampling capability is achieved, but manufacturing cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patient bed is given a dual function: its primary role in patient positioning and its secondary role in providing super-sampling capability through angled translation. This eliminates the need for dedicated super-sampling hardware, reducing manufacturing costs.
Solution Approach 2:
The existing bed translation mechanism serves the additional purpose of super-sampling when angled at a non-zero angle relative to the scanner axis. This self-service approach avoids additional hardware investment while achieving super-sampling capability.
Data Source
AI summary
An apparatus for collecting super-sampled imaging data includes an imaging scanner, a bed, and a first motor. The imaging scanner includes a plurality of detectors arranged substantially circumferentially about a scanner axis. The bed has a plane and a central axis that is generally in the plane of the bed. However, the bed is oriented so as to form a first non-zero degree angle between the central axis and the scanner axis. The first motor translates the bed along the central axis, and a second motor may translate the bed along an axis orthogonal to the central axis and scanner axis. Since the voxels pass through the scanner in different relative positions of the bed, additional information may be acquired during the scan.