Apparatus for optical breast imaging
First Claim
1. A breast imaging device, comprising:
- (a) four imaging arrays, each imaging array being orthogonal to two adjacent imaging arrays and each imaging array having an inner surface including a number of optical fibcrs configured to send and to receive optical energy and wherein the imaging arrays are arranged to define a volume in which a breast may be enclosed; and
(b) a data acquisition system configured to generate an image in response to information received from the four imaging arrays.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A breast imager generates an image of a breast and determines if a suspicious growth is present in the breast. The optical breast imager includes a "breast box" in which a patient'"'"'s breast may be enclosed, a transmitter/detector device, and a data acquisition system. The "breast box" includes four optical arrays. The "breast box" defines an adjustable volume which may accommodate different sized breasts. The arrays may be used to send optical energy into the "breast box" or to receive optical energy which has been transmitted into the "breast box". The transmitter/detector device has four optical arrays corresponding to "breast box" imaging arrays. The transmitter/detector device may also have one or more optical energy transmitters and optical energy detectors. The transmitter (or transmitters) may transmit optical energy into a location on a transmitter/detector array. The optical energy is sent into the "breast box" via the corresponding "breast box" imaging array. Energy which passes through and/or is scattered by the tissue strikes the surface the "breast box" imaging arrays and is sent to the transmitter/detector device arrays, where the energy may be detected by an optical detector. The operation of the transmitters and detectors may be synchronized so that optical energy may be transmitted from a known location at a known time and the locations from which that transmitted energy is subsequently detected may be determined. The detected energy data is sent to the data acquisition system for processing.
51 Citations
35 Claims
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1. A breast imaging device, comprising:
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(a) four imaging arrays, each imaging array being orthogonal to two adjacent imaging arrays and each imaging array having an inner surface including a number of optical fibcrs configured to send and to receive optical energy and wherein the imaging arrays are arranged to define a volume in which a breast may be enclosed; and (b) a data acquisition system configured to generate an image in response to information received from the four imaging arrays. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A breast imaging device, comprising:
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(a) a plurality of imaging arrays, each imaging array having an inner surface including a number of optical fibers configured to send and to receive optical energy and wherein the imaging arrays are arranged to define a volume in which a breast may be enclosed; (b) a plurality of transmitter/detector arrays each having a surface including a number of optical fibers and wherein each imaging array optical fiber is optically connected to a transmitter/detector array optical fiber; and (c) a data acquisition system configured to generate an image in response to information received from the transmitter/detector device. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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24. A device for transmitting optical energy into and detecting optical energy from a patient'"'"'s tissue, the device adapted for connection to a data acquisition device, comprising:
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a. a plurality of imaging arrays configured to define a volume in which the patient'"'"'s tissue may be enclosed, each array including a number of optical fibers configured to send and receive optical energy; b. a plurality of transmitter/detector arrays having a surface including a number of optical fibers and wherein each imaging array optical fiber is optically connected to a transmitter/detector array optical fiber; c. at least one transmitter/detector unit, comprising; (1) an optical energy transmitter configured to transmit optical energy into a transmitter/detector array optical fiber; (2) an optical energy detector configured to detect optical energy sent to a transmitter/detector array optical fiber from an imaging array fiber; and d. a positioner configured to selectively position the optical energy transmitter and optical energy detector at desired locations alone the surfaces of the plurality of transmitter/detector arrays. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
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Specification