Imaging probe

• US 20030081716A1
• Filed: 10/24/2002
• Published: 05/01/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 10/25/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nova R&D Incorporated (Kromek Group PLC)
• Original Assignee: Tumay O. Tumer
• Inventors: Tumer, Tumay O.
• Granted Patent: US 6,940,070 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 378/19
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/4258 for detecting non x-ray radiation, e.g. gamma radiation A61B6/037 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/508 for non-human patients
• CPC Class Codes: G01T 1/161 Applications in the field of nuclear medicine, e.g. in vivo counting apparatus for radiation diagnosis A61B6/00
• CPC Class Codes: G01T 7/00 Details of radiation-measuring instruments

Abstract

The design of a compact, handheld, solid-state and high-sensitivity imaging probe and a micro imager system is reported. These instruments can be used as a dedicated tool for detecting and locating sentinel lymph nodes and also for detecting and imaging radioactive material. The reported device will use solid state pixel detectors and custom low-noise frontend/readout integrated circuits. The detector will be designed to have excellent image quality and high spatial resolution. The imaging probes have two different embodiments, which are comprised of a pixelated detector array and a highly integrated readout system, which uses a custom multi-channel mixed signal integrated circuit. The instrument usually includes a collimator in front of the detector array so that the incident photons can be imaged. The data is transferred to an intelligent display system. A hyperspectral image can also be produced and displayed. These devices are designed to be portable for easy use.

Claims

1. A method of imaging a portion of a human body, the method comprising the steps of:

providing a radiopharmaceutical to said portion of said human body, said radiopharmaceutical producing gamma ray photons;

positioning a detection system proximate to said portion of said human body, wherein said detection system is comprised of a detector, wherein said detector comprised of two dimensional plurality of pixels;

determining a direction and an energy for a portion of said gamma ray photons entering said detection system from a plurality of pixels;

Processing said direction and energy data for said portion of gamma ray photons; and

Displaying an image of said portion of said human body, wherein said image is based on said processed direction and energy data.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said portion of said human body is an organ.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said portion of said human body is a breast.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said image can be used to determine the position of a lesion which can be located using rulings on the display and/or on the sides of the instrument developed using the said imaging method.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said imaging method can produce a hyperspectral image.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said imaging method can be used to develop compact a portable imaging instrument.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said imaging method uses a collimator for determining the direction of the photons enters its aperture.

8. A medical imaging system for imaging a portion of a living organism, said portion treated with a radiopharmaceutical, said radiopharmaceutical emitting gamma ray photons, comprising:

A detector comprised of a plurality of two-dimensional pixels, wherein an entrance aperture of said detector is external to said living organism and proximate to said portion of said living organism, wherein emitted gamma ray photons pass into said hodoscope and are scattered within said hodoscope;

A multi channel readout system coupled to said plurality of silicon detection planes;

A processor coupled to said multi-channel readout system; and

A monitor coupled to said processor, said monitor displaying an image of photons coming from the said portion of said living organism.

9. The medical imaging system of claim 8, wherein a portion of said emitted gamma ray photons undergo a photoelectric absorption.

10. The medical imaging system of claim 8, further comprising a collimator to restrict the angle of the gamma rays incident on the said system to determine the direction of the photons.

11. The medical imaging system of claim 8, wherein said radiopharmaceutical is selected from the group consisting of thallium-201, technetium-99m, iodine-123, iodine-131, and fluorine-18.

12. The medical imaging system of claim 10, further comprising a handle for holding the said medical imaging system.

13. The medical imaging system of claim 8, wherein said plurality of pixels are developed on a detector material such as silicon pad detectors, silicon pixel detectors, double sided silicon microstrip detectors, double sided silicon strip detectors, CdZnTe pixel detectors and CdTe pixel detectors.

14. The medical imaging system of claim 8, wherein said plurality of pixels reside on both sides of the detector.

15. The medical imaging system of claim 8, wherein each of said plurality of pixel detectors are ohmic type electrodes.

16. The medical imaging system of claim 8, wherein each of said plurality of pixel detectors are blocking type electrodes.

17. The medical imaging system of claim 8, wherein said plurality of pixels have a pitch varying from 0.01 to 10 mm.

18. The medical imaging system of claim 8, wherein there are several layers of detector planes.

19. The medical imaging system of claim 8, wherein said detector material is selected from the group of detector materials consisting of HPGe, BGO, CdWo4, CsF, Nal(TI), CsI(Na), CsI(TI), CdTe, CdZnTe, HgI2, GaAs, and PbI2.

20. The medical imaging system of claim 8, wherein said imaging system is made compact and portable.