Radioactive emission detector equipped with a position tracking system
First Claim
1. A system for calculating an image of a radioactivity emitting source in a system-of-coordinates, the system comprising:
- a radioactive emission probe, of a variable-course motion;
a position tracking system, being in communicating with the radioactive emission probe; and
a data processor, being designed and configured for receiving data inputs from the position tracking system and from the radioactive emission probe and for constructing the image of the radioactivity emitting source in the system-of-coordinates.
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Abstract
A radioactive emission probe in communication with a position tracking system and the use thereof in a variety of systems and methods of medical imaging and procedures, are provided. Specifically, wide-apeture collimation—deconvolution algorithms are provided, for obtaining a high-efficiency, high resolution image of a radioactivity emitting source, by scanning the radioactivity emitting source with a probe of a wide-aperture collimator, and at the same time, monitoring the position of the radioactive emission probe, at very fine time intervals, to obtain the equivalence of fine-aperture collimation. The blurring effect of the wide aperture is then corrected mathematically. Furthermore, an imaging method by depth calculations is provided, based on the attenuation of photons of different energies, which are emitted from the same source, coupled with position monitoring.
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Citations
142 Claims
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1. A system for calculating an image of a radioactivity emitting source in a system-of-coordinates, the system comprising:
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a radioactive emission probe, of a variable-course motion;
a position tracking system, being in communicating with the radioactive emission probe; and
a data processor, being designed and configured for receiving data inputs from the position tracking system and from the radioactive emission probe and for constructing the image of the radioactivity emitting source in the system-of-coordinates. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42)
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43. A method for defining an image of a radioactivity emitting source in a system-of-coordinates, the method comprising:
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scanning, in a variable-course motion, a radioactivity emitting source with a radioactive emission probe;
monitoring a position of the a radioactive emission probe, as it scans the radioactivity emitting source;
data processing the scanning and the monitoring; and
constructing a first image of the radioactivity emitting source, by the data processing. - View Dependent Claims (44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89)
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90. A method of nuclear imaging, comprising:
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scanning a radioactivity emitting source with a radioactive emission probe having a wide-aperture collimator;
monitoring the position of the radioactive emission probe;
data processing the scanning and the monitoring, while mathematically correcting the scanning for the effect of wide-aperture; and
constructing a first image of the radioactivity emitting source, by the data processing. - View Dependent Claims (91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109)
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110. A method of nuclear imaging, comprising:
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scanning a radioactivity emitting source of at least two photon energies with a radioactive emission probe, and obtaining a count rate for the at least two photons;
monitoring the position of the radioactive emission probe;
calculating the depth of the radioactivity emitting source, at each position, based on the different attenuation of photons of different energies, emitted from the radioactivity emitting source; and
constructing an image of the radioactivity emitting source. - View Dependent Claims (111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120, 121, 122)
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123. A system for calculating an image of a radioactivity emitting source in a system-of-coordinates, the system comprising:
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a radioactive emission probe, of a wide-aperture collimator;
a position tracking system, being in communicating with the radioactive emission probe; and
a data processor, being designed and configured for receiving data inputs from the position tracking system and from the radioactive emission probe and for constructing the image of the radioactivity emitting source in the system-of-coordinates. - View Dependent Claims (124, 125, 126, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131, 132, 133, 134, 135, 136, 137, 138, 139, 140, 141, 142)
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Specification