Portable medical imaging system

• US 10,448,910 B2
• Filed: 02/03/2016
• Issued: 10/22/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 02/03/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Globus Medical, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Globus Medical, Inc.
• Inventors: Johnson, Norbert, Stevens, Robert, Salem, Hisham, Cheng, Yuan
• Primary Examiner(s): Fox, Dani
• Assistant Examiner(s): Kefayati, Soorena
• Application Number:
  US15/014,083
• Publication Number:
  US 20170215825A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,357 Days
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/032 Transmission computed tomography [CT]
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/035 Mechanical aspects of CT
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/4085 Cone-beams
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/4405 the apparatus being movable or portable, e.g. handheld or mounted on a trolley
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/4441 the rigid structure being a C-arm or U-arm
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/487 involving fluoroscopy
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/54 Control of apparatus or devices for radiation diagnosis

Abstract

A medical imaging system includes a movable station and a gantry. The movable station includes a gantry mount rotatably attached to the gantry. The gantry includes an outer C-arm slidably mounted to and operable to slide relative to the gantry mount, an inner C-arm slidably coupled to the outer C-arm and, an imaging signal transmitter and sensor attached to the C-arms. The two C-arms work together to provide a full 360 degree rotation of the imaging signal transmitter.

Claims

1. A medical imaging system comprising:

a movable station;

a gantry mount attached to the movable station;

a gantry rotatably attached to the gantry mount and including;

a first C-arm slidably mounted to and operable to slide relative to the gantry mount;

a second C-arm slidably coupled to the first C-arm;

an imaging signal transmitter attached to the second C-arms, the first and second C-arms together providing a 360 degree rotation of the imaging signal transmitter; and

an imaging sensor mounted to the other side of the second C-arm and facing the imaging signal transmitter,

wherein a plurality of uniformly spaced rollers are mounted on inner sides of side frames of the gantry mount;

a cable carrier containing a plurality of electrical cables; and

a first cable router having a through-hole and mounted to an outer surface of the first C-arm, wherein the cable carrier extending from the gantry mount over the outer surface of the first C-arm, through the through-hole of the first cable router and over an outer surface of the second C-arm.

2. The medical imaging system of claim 1, further comprising:

a controller; and

at least three omni-directional wheels attached to the movable station and adapted to be controlled by the controller, the omni-directional wheels providing the movable station with three degrees of freedom (X,Y,Wag) about a horizontal plane.

3. The medical imaging system of claim 1, wherein the cable carrier extends in a first circumferential direction and enters the first cable router in a second circumferential direction opposite to the first circumferential direction to create a 180 degree service loop over the outer surface of the first C-arm.

4. The medical imaging system of claim 1, further comprising a second cable router having a throughhole and mounted to an outer surface of the second C-arm, wherein the cable carrier extending through the through-hole of the second cable router.

5. The medical imaging system of claim 1, further comprising:

a second cable router having a through-hole and mounted to an outer surface of the second C-arm, the cable carrier extending through the through-hole of the second cable router;

wherein the cable carrier extends in a first circumferential direction and enters the first cable router in a second circumferential direction opposite to the first circumferential direction to create a 180 degree service loop over the outer surface of the first C-arm; and

wherein the cable carrier extends in the first circumferential direction and enters the second cable router in the second circumferential direction to create a second 180 degree service loop over the outer surface of the second C-arm.

6. The medical imaging system of claim 2, further comprising strain gauges mounted to the movable station to allow a user to control movement of the omni-directional wheels under the control of the controller.

7. The medical imaging system of claim 2, further comprising:

a first motor that provides a sliding movement of the first C-arm relative to the gantry mount; and

a second motor that provides a sliding movement of the first C-arm relative to the second C-arm.

8. The medical imaging system of claim 4, wherein the cable carrier extends in a first circumferential direction and enters the second cable router in a second circumferential direction opposite to the first circumferential direction to create a service loop over the outer surface of the second C-arm.

9. A medical imaging system that provides a 6-degree of freedom movement comprising:

a movable station including at least four omni-directional wheels attached to and adapted to position the movable station in all three degrees of freedom (X, Y and Wag) about an x-y horizontal plane;

a gantry mount rotatably attached to the movable station;

a gantry rotatably attached to the gantry mount and including;

a first C-arm slidably mounted to and adapted to slide relative to the gantry mount in a circumferential direction;

a second C-arm slidably coupled to and adapted to slide relative to the first C-arm in a circumferential direction; and

an imaging signal transmitter attached to the second C-arm, the first and second C-arms together providing a 360 degree rotation of the imaging signal transmitter;

an imaging sensor mounted to the other side of the second C-arm and positioned to be facing the imaging signal transmitter,

wherein the imaging signal transmitter is capable of moving with respect to the imaging sensor,

wherein a plurality of uniformly spaced rollers are mounted on inner sides of side frames of the gantry mount and

a cabling system including a first cable router mounted to the outer surface of the first C-arm and a second cable router mounted to the outer surface of the second C-arm.

10. The medical imaging system of claim 9, further comprising:

a controller coupled to the omni-directional wheels; and

a joystick mounted to the movable station to allow a user to control movement of the omni-directional wheels under the control of the controller.

11. The medical imaging system of claim 9, further comprising:

a first motor that provides a sliding movement of the first C-arm relative to the gantry mount; and

a second motor that provides a sliding movement of the first C-arm relative to the second C-arm.

12. The medical imaging system of claim 9,

wherein the cabling system contains a plurality of electrical cables;

the first cable router having a through-hole and mounted to an outer surface of the first C-arm, the cabling system includes a cable carrier extending from the gantry mount over the outer surface of the first C-arm, through the through-hole of the first cable router and over an outer surface of the second C-arm.

13. The medical imaging system of claim 9, wherein a cable carrier extends in a first circumferential direction and enters the first cable router in a second circumferential direction opposite to the first circumferential direction to create a 180 degree service loop over the outer surface of the first C-arm;

and wherein the cable carrier extends in the first circumferential direction and enters the second cable router in the second circumferential direction to create a second 180 degree service loop over the outer surface of the second C-arm.

14. The medical imaging system of claim 12, wherein the cable carrier extends in a first circumferential direction and enters the first cable router in a second circumferential direction opposite to the first circumferential direction to create a 180 degree service loop over the outer surface of the first C-arm.

15. The medical imaging system of claim 12, wherein the second cable router having a through-hole and mounted to an outer surface of the second C-arm, the cable carrier extending through the through-hole of the second cable router.

16. The medical imaging system of claim 15, wherein the cable system extends in a first circumferential direction and enters the second cable router in a second circumferential direction opposite to the first circumferential direction to create a service loop over the outer surface of the second C-arm.