Enclosed Mobile Camera Rail System for Patient-Friendly SPECT Imaging
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current medical imaging devices, such as gamma cameras, are large, expensive, and often expose patients to moving parts, causing stress due to their size and open gantry systems, which are sub-optimal for patient positioning and costly to enclose the detector heads.
Innovation Solution
A mobile camera unit with an enclosed detector system that uses rails and motors to move cameras within a stationary casing, allowing for flexible and rigid rail configurations to accommodate various patient sizes and positions, enabling efficient and stress-reduced imaging.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If detector heads are suspended from a gantry or arm to enable motion, then imaging capability is achieved, but device complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of suspending detector heads from a moving gantry or arm, the patent inverts the approach by using a stationary detector head within an enclosed housing and moving the patient table through the detector. This eliminates complex suspension mechanisms while maintaining imaging capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts the motion function from the detector head suspension system and relocates it to the patient table movement mechanism. The detector head remains stationary and enclosed, while the table moves the patient through the imaging field.
2Volume of moving object
If an open gantry system is used, then device size is reduced, but patient stress increases due to exposed moving parts
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the open gantry structure and its exposed moving parts entirely. Instead, it uses an enclosed stationary housing with a closed-loop rail system that operates internally, eliminating the intimidating open mechanical structure while maintaining imaging function.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs an enclosed housing structure with flexible or thin-walled construction that provides protection and enclosure while minimizing visual bulk. The enclosed design creates a more patient-friendly environment while the thin-walled construction reduces the perceived device size.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If detector heads are enclosed in a stationary housing, then patient stress is reduced, but motion capability is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent inverts the motion approach by keeping the detector head stationary within the enclosed housing and instead moving the patient table through the detector. This maintains the enclosed protective structure while achieving the necessary relative motion for imaging.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary element - the movable patient table - to facilitate motion between the stationary detector and the patient. The table acts as a mediator that enables imaging without requiring the detector head to move or be exposed.
4Productivity
If multiple detector heads are used for accelerated acquisition, then productivity increases, but device complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent makes the single detector head universal by enabling it to acquire data from multiple angles through the motion of the patient table and adjustable collimator angles. This multi-functional approach allows one detector to perform the work of multiple detectors, accelerating acquisition without increasing detector head count.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces dynamic elements - adjustable collimator angles and variable table positions - that allow a single stationary detector head to effectively sample from multiple geometric configurations. This dynamic adaptability enables accelerated acquisition comparable to multiple detectors without the associated complexity.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution provides a compact, cost-effective, and patient-friendly medical imaging solution that can be used for diverse treatments by allowing the camera to move within a fully enclosed system, reducing stress and improving patient positioning while maintaining optimal imaging capabilities.
Implementation Method 1
Single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) imaging is performed by using a gamma camera to acquire image or projection data from multiple angles
Data Source
AI summary
A mobile detector system for use in the detection of radiation photons. The detector system includes an exterior casing, having an internal area. The internal area has an interior periphery and an exterior periphery, at least one rail, at least one mobile camera, that is movably mounted on the at least one rail, and at least one motor. The motor drives at least one mobile camera, and the at least one mobile camera is movable along at least one rail within the exterior casing, to a plurality of radiation receiving positions.