MOBILE PATIENT POSITIONING CART FOR MULTIPLE EXPOSURE IMAGING EXAMS
First Claim
1. A mobile positioning stand for positioning a patient to image a desired total radiographic image area of the patient, the stand providing multiple images areas of the total image area, the stand comprising:
- a stand frame having a vertical stand rail and wheels for moving the stand across a floor;
a shield structure having a shield column movably coupled to the stand rail to be manually moved vertically along the stand rail, the shield structure having arms to hold a shield having a radio transparent material, the shield having markers, the shield column being movably coupled to the rails to be manually moved to position the shield at a shield height position, based on a height of anatomy of the patient desired to be imaged, the shield height position selected so that the markers provide marks for aligning an image detector to correct positions for imaging vertically adjacent and partially overlapping images of vertically adjacent image areas of a desired total image area of the patient; and
a flat panel image detector holder movably coupled to the detector rail behind the shield, the detector holder movably coupled to the detector rail to be manually moved vertically to position the detector holder at a vertical position based on the vertical position of the markers.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A mobile patient positioning stand has a vertical rail allowing a shield structure to be moved up and down to different heights based on the height of anatomy of the patient desired to be imaged. The structure may be moved to position a shield of the structure at a height so that anatomy of a patient to be imaged is located within multiple image areas identified by markers on the shield. Then, an image detector holder and detector may be moved up and down to different heights behind the shield, based on the height of the markers. A source of radiation provides images at the multiple image areas. The multiple image areas may be connected by aligning stitching markers that may be on the shield, and are in the images. The aligning may be done by an automated computer software process that recognized patient anatomy and/or the stitching markers.
33 Citations
22 Claims
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1. A mobile positioning stand for positioning a patient to image a desired total radiographic image area of the patient, the stand providing multiple images areas of the total image area, the stand comprising:
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a stand frame having a vertical stand rail and wheels for moving the stand across a floor; a shield structure having a shield column movably coupled to the stand rail to be manually moved vertically along the stand rail, the shield structure having arms to hold a shield having a radio transparent material, the shield having markers, the shield column being movably coupled to the rails to be manually moved to position the shield at a shield height position, based on a height of anatomy of the patient desired to be imaged, the shield height position selected so that the markers provide marks for aligning an image detector to correct positions for imaging vertically adjacent and partially overlapping images of vertically adjacent image areas of a desired total image area of the patient; and a flat panel image detector holder movably coupled to the detector rail behind the shield, the detector holder movably coupled to the detector rail to be manually moved vertically to position the detector holder at a vertical position based on the vertical position of the markers. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A system for positioning a patient to image a total desired radiographic image area of the patient, the system providing multiple images of multiple image areas of the total image area, the system comprising:
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a movable positioning stand comprising; a stand frame having a vertical stand rail and wheels for moving the stand across a floor; a shield structure having a shield column movably coupled to the stand rail to be manually moved vertically along the stand rail, the shield structure having arms or frame structure to hold a shield having a radio transparent material, the shield having markers including a substance with a large radiation attenuation coefficient, the shield column being movably coupled to the rails to be manually moved to position the shield at a shield height position, based on a height of anatomy of the patient desired to be imaged, the shield height position selected so that the markers provide marks for aligning an image detector to correct positions for imaging vertically adjacent and partially overlapping images of vertically adjacent image areas of a desired total image area of the patient; a flat panel image detector holder movably coupled to the detector rail behind the shield, the detector holder movably coupled to the detector rail to be manually moved vertically to position the detector holder at a vertical position based on the vertical position of the markers; and a detector in the detector holder, the detector to receive radiation emitted by a radiation imaging source in front of the stand and patient. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13)
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14. A method of using a portable positioning stand to position a patient and to locate a radiographic detector at multiple positions to create multiple images of multiple image areas identified by markers of a shield of the stand, the method comprising:
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locating the portable stand to be radiated by a source of radiation;
thenlocating the patient in front of the stand;
thenmanually vertically aligning a shield of the stand to a shield height using a first movement and based on a height of anatomy of a patient desired to be imaged for a desired total image area and a vertical position of markers on the shield so that the markers identify a first and second image area of the desired total image area;
thenmanually vertically aligning a detector of the stand to a first detector height position using a different second movement based the vertical position of the markers to image the first image area. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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Specification