Method for medical imaging and a medical imaging system
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Accused Products
Abstract
To improve medical imaging with the aid of an intravascular catheter, an area to be examined is irradiated with the infrared light and an assigned scatter light signal is processed to form an image. To do this, OCT imaging with the aid of tissue-permeable light at a wavelength of approximately 1300 nm is combined with OCT imaging with the aid of blood-permeable light at a wavelength of approximately 1800 nm and/or with radio-optic imaging with the aid of an infrared camera (10B) with blood-permeable light at a wavelength of 1800 nm. This combined imaging catheter system opens up new and improved application possibilities in the medical field and the quality of the images received can be improved by the mutual correction of the particular image data.
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Citations
31 Claims
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1-15. -15. (canceled)
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16. A method of acquiring medical images, comprising:
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inserting a catheter into a vessel, the catheter having an optical fiber;
irradiating an examination area with infrared light using the optical fiber;
acquiring a response light signal from the examination area;
transmitting the response light signal to an evaluation unit; and
processing the transmitted response light signal by the evaluation unit to generate a medical image, wherein during a medical examination at least two imaging procedures are executed alternately or in parallel, the at least two imaging procedures selected from the group consisting of irradiating the examination area using optical coherence tomography including infrared light having a wavelength such that the infrared light permeates tissue, irradiating the examination area using optical coherence tomography including infrared light having a wavelength such that the infrared light permeates blood and acquiring the response light by an infrared camera for generating a radio-optic image. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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29. A medical imaging system for acquiring intravascular medical images, comprising:
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a catheter having an optical fiber;
a light supply unit connected to the optical fiber for supplying infrared light to the optical fiber; and
an evaluation unit connected to the optical fiber for evaluating a response light signal, wherein the light supply unit is configured to simultaneously or alternately supply the infrared light at at least a first and a second wavelength, the first wavelength chosen such that the infrared light permeates blood and the second wavelength chosen such that the infrared light permeates tissue. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31)
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Specification