Movable Gamma Ray Detectors for SPECT Imaging Throughput
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing three-dimensional imaging systems in nuclear medicine, particularly those using SPECT, face challenges in achieving high patient throughput due to the need for large rotating gantries that require extensive movement, which is costly and cumbersome, and can be detrimental to ill or intensive care patients by prolonging image acquisition time.
Innovation Solution
The system employs movable gamma ray detectors within a gantry that can swivel and move along linear paths, reducing the need for extensive gantry rotation and allowing detectors to maintain focus on a center point, thereby minimizing gantry movement and enabling imaging around 180 or 360 degrees without rotating the gantry, using adjustable collimators for optimal resolution.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If large rotating gantries are used to achieve high-quality SPECT imaging with multiple angular views, then image quality is improved, but the apparatus size increases and patient throughput decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the imaging system into multiple independent detector cameras (at least two) that can be positioned and moved independently within the gantry. Each detector can be adjusted to specific angular positions around the patient, eliminating the need for a single large rotating gantry to cover all angles. This segmentation allows simultaneous or sequential imaging from multiple angles, improving patient throughput while maintaining image quality.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements movable detector cameras that can be dynamically positioned along linear paths and adjusted to various angular positions around the patient. The detectors can be moved independently to optimize their positions for different imaging scenarios, allowing the system to adapt to different patient sizes and imaging requirements without requiring extensive gantry rotation, thus reducing acquisition time and improving throughput.
2Adaptability or versatility
If large rotating gantries with heavy drive gear rings are used to rotate detectors around the patient, then complete angular coverage is achieved, but the gantry size and complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of using a single large rotating gantry with heavy drive mechanisms, the patent segments the angular coverage function across multiple stationary or minimally movable detector cameras. Each detector can be positioned at specific angular positions (e.g., 0°, 90°, 180°, 270°) around the patient, achieving complete angular coverage without requiring a large rotating structure. This eliminates the need for heavy drive gear rings and complex rotation mechanisms.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transitions from a single rotating gantry in the horizontal plane to multiple detectors distributed in three-dimensional space around the patient. The detectors can be positioned at different heights and angular positions, creating a multi-dimensional imaging geometry that achieves complete angular coverage without requiring extensive rotation in a single plane, thereby simplifying the gantry structure.
3Measurement precision
If detectors are positioned close to the patient with thick lead collimators to generate high resolution images, then image resolution is improved, but the gantry must be larger to accommodate the detector movement range
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses multiple detector cameras positioned at different angular locations around the patient, each with its own thick lead collimator for high-resolution imaging. By segmenting the imaging task across multiple detectors, each detector can be positioned close to the patient at its specific angular position without requiring a large gantry to move a single detector through the entire angular range. This reduces the travel distance and size requirements for the gantry while maintaining high resolution through close positioning and thick collimators.
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
This approach allows for faster and more efficient image acquisition with reduced gantry size and complexity, enhancing patient throughput and comfort by minimizing the time required for image data collection while maintaining high-resolution imaging capabilities.
Implementation Method 1
Multiple gamma ray cameras often are used in nuclear medicine to generate high quality three dimensional images... Modern gamma ray cameras utilize detectors, such as Anger cameras
Implementation Method 2
These detectors generally use thick lead collimators to acquire projection data. The collimators often are positioned close to the patient to generate high resolution images
Data Source
AI summary
A radiographic three dimensional imaging apparatus capable of focusing on a center of rotation point, includes at least two gamma ray detectors, each having a radiation input face, with each detector positioned on a linear path, wherein each detector is movable along the detector's linear path, while simultaneously swiveling to maintain the detector's input face towards the rotation point. The apparatus allows for organ-targeted tomography as a virtual center of rotation can be placed arbitrarily with respect to a patient, constrained only by the physical limits of the detector motion.