RT table top filler
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Solution Overview
Problem
In medical imaging systems, particularly in MRI scanners, patients are often unable to assist in their transfer due to disability, and maintaining patient position is crucial, yet existing systems lack efficient mechanisms for preserving position and sanitization during the imaging process.
Innovation Solution
A patient support system with a recessed portion for RF head coils and a filler insert that complements the coil's shape, allowing for optimized imaging geometry and easy sanitization, featuring a flat top surface for patient comfort and positioning, and keying features for precise alignment with neurovascular coils.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If a recessed portion is created in the patient support table to accommodate RF head coils, then imaging geometry is optimized, but the table surface becomes uneven reducing patient comfort
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts the coil-accommodation function from the permanent table structure by using a removable filler insert. The recessed portion is only present when needed for imaging, while the filler insert restores the flat surface for patient comfort during non-imaging periods.
Solution Approach 2:
The table surface configuration is made dynamic and changeable rather than fixed. The filler insert can be removed to create the recessed portion for optimized imaging geometry, and reinstalled to provide a flat comfortable surface, allowing the system to adapt to different operational requirements.
2Measurement precision
If a custom-shaped recessed portion is created for RF head coils, then imaging quality is improved, but sanitization becomes more difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The complex recessed portion geometry is extracted from the permanent table structure and replaced with a removable filler insert. This allows the main table surface to remain flat and easy to sanitize, while the imaging geometry is provided by the separate insert that can be removed for cleaning access.
Solution Approach 2:
The table surface is segmented into the permanent base structure and the removable filler insert. This segmentation allows the base to be simple and easy to sanitize, while the insert provides the complex geometry needed for imaging and can be separately cleaned or replaced.
3Measurement precision
If the patient support table is modified with permanent features for coil accommodation, then imaging geometry is optimized, but adaptability for different configurations is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The table configuration is made dynamic and reconfigurable rather than permanent. The filler insert can be removed or repositioned to create different surface configurations, allowing the system to adapt between optimized imaging geometry and flat comfortable surfaces based on operational needs.
Solution Approach 2:
The filler insert serves multiple functions: it provides the recessed portion for optimized coil accommodation during imaging, and when removed, it restores the flat surface for patient comfort and alternative configurations. This multi-functionality increases system versatility.
Data Source
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AI summary
When imaging a patient using a magnetic resonance (MR) imager, it is desirable to locate an radio frequency (RF) head coil at a position lower than the flat table top patient surface in order to optimize the geometry of the patient anatomy and the RF coil. A flat table top is provided for an MR patient support table (10) that includes a pocket or recessed portion (50) that accepts an RF head coil (14), thereby optimizing imaging geometry. When the RF coil is not mated to the recessed portion of the table (10)a filler insert (20) is mated therewith. This allows an operator to use the table top without the filler insert to position a neurovascular coil at an optimized location below the table top surface for brain imaging, as well as to convert the patient support table back to a completely flat top by removing the coil and installing the flat surface filler insert for additional positioning requirements. The filler insert feature allows for therapy planning using magnetic resonance with optimized image quality in a radiation therapy treatment environment.