Thermal scanning system and method

• US 6,440,084 B1
• Filed: 09/14/2000
• Issued: 08/27/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 09/14/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Brody, Lee, Gentempo, Patrick
• Original Assignee: Brody, Lee, Gentempo, Patrick
• Inventors: Brody, Lee, Gentempo, Patrick
• Primary Examiner(s): HINDENBURG, MAX F
• Application Number:
  US09/661,712
• Time in Patent Office: 712 Days
• Field of Search: 600/438, 600/474, 600/549
• US Class Current: 600/549
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/01 Measuring temperature of body parts ; Diagnostic temperature sensing, e.g. for malignant or inflamed tissue clinical contact thermometers G01K13/20
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1072 measuring distances on the body, e.g. measuring length, height or thickness A61B5/1076 takes precedence

Abstract

A thermal scanning system and method. The thermal scanning system comprises a handheld thermal scanning device with wheels and three infrared sensors that are spaced to scan skin temperature on opposite sides of patient spinal columns of different sizes. Two out of the three sensors are selected for a particular patient, and the wheels are adjustable to accommodate the two selected sensors. The handheld device further calculates the distance traveled by the wheels by measuring the rotation of the wheels. The device has a trigger that allows a user to annotate the location of various anatomical landmarks, such as particular regions of a patient'"'"'s spinal column. The device is adapted to take discrete temperature readings or rolling temperature readings. The thermal scanning system provides graphical displays and data analysis of the temperature readings from the sensors.

Claims

1. A thermal scanning system adapted to scan skin temperature on opposite sides of a patient'"'"'s spinal column for patients of different sizes, the thermal scanning system comprising:

a handheld body;

a plurality of temperature sensors including a first sensor, a second sensor and a third sensor, the sensors mounted on the body and arranged in a pattern, the first and second sensors being spaced to scan skin temperature on opposite sides of a patient'"'"'s spinal column of a first size range, the second and third sensors being spaced to scan skin temperature on opposite sides of a patient'"'"'s spinal column of a second size range, the first and third sensors being spaced to scan skin temperature on opposite sides of a patient'"'"'s spinal column of a third size range; and

a plurality of wheels rotating on a shaft attached to the body, the wheels rolling along the patient'"'"'s back as the sensors scan the plurality of points on opposite sides of the patient'"'"'s spinal column.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the wheels is adjustable along the shaft from a first position to a second position, said wheel in said first position aligned proximate to one sensor, said wheel in said second position aligned proximate to another sensor, in order to accommodate a patients of more than one size range.

3. A thermal scanning system adapted to scan skin temperature on opposite sides of a patient'"'"'s spinal column as a user advances a handheld scanning device along the patient'"'"'s spinal column, the thermal scanning system comprising:

a handheld body;

at plurality of temperature sensors mounted on the handheld body;

means for aligning one sensor an equal distance apart on each side of a patient'"'"'s spine, said aligning means being adjustable to accommodate the size of the patient so that for larger patients, thermal readings can be obtained from paraspinal locations that are a greater distance apart for larger patients than for smaller patients, so as to permit a single handheld body to be used with a variety of patients.

4. The system of claim 3 wherein said plurality of sensors includes three sensors and wherein said aligning means comprises a pair of wheels which are movable so that one wheel can be aligned with each of two sensors so that a plurality of sets of two sensors can be selected, each set accommodating a different sized patient.

5. A thermal scanning system adapted to scan skin temperature on opposite sides of a patient'"'"'s spinal column as a user advances a handheld scanning device along the patient'"'"'s spinal column, the thermal scanning system comprising:

a handheld body;

a plurality of temperature sensors mounted on the handheld body;

a detector which senses the distance traveled by the handheld body along the patient'"'"'s spinal column;

a switch activated by the user to mark one or more anatomical locations along the patient'"'"'s spinal column as the user scans the patient'"'"'s spine;

a memory which stores data representing the distance traveled by the handheld body along the patient'"'"'s spinal column, the locations marked by the user, and the temperature readings.

6. The system of claim 5, further comprising:

a processor which is instructed to use the data in memory to correlate temperature readings obtained by the sensors with an estimated location of various vertebra within a spinal region.

7. The system of claim 6 wherein the memory further comprises normative data regarding the locations of vertebra within a given spinal region.

8. The system of claim 5 wherein said switch is a manually activated trigger located on the handheld body.

9. The system of claim 5 wherein said switch is adapted to alternate scanning modes from a first mode in which the handheld body is moved along the patient'"'"'s spine while thermal readings are continuously recorded, to a second mode in which discrete temperature reading can taken at given locations with the handheld body in a static position.

10. A method of scanning skin temperature on opposite sides of a patient'"'"'s spinal column, the method comprising:

advancing a handheld temperature scanning device along the patient'"'"'s spinal column;

scanning a left portion of the patient'"'"'s spinal column with a first temperature sensor and simultaneously scanning a right portion of the patient'"'"'s spinal column with a second temperature sensor so as to generate a plurality of temperature readings;

correlating the location on the spine with the temperature readings, separately for each region of the spine;

displaying a graphical representation of the spine in combination with graphical representations of the temperature readings, wherein the temperature readings displayed are those which have been correlated to particular locations along the spine;

wherein the step of correlating the location on the spine with the temperature readings further comprises;

measuring the distance traveled along the spine by the handheld scanning device;

marking points along the distance traveled by the handheld scanning device along the patient'"'"'s spinal column, said points representing the location of transitional areas between regions of the spine; and

comparing the distances between marked points on the patient and a normative measurements of spinal anatomies between the same transition regions at which the points are marked;

estimating the location of the patient'"'"'s individual vertebra between the marked points based on the location of those vertebra from the normative data;

correlating the estimated location on the spine of a vertebra with a given distance traveled by the handheld scanner to reach that estimated location; and

identifying the temperature reading taken at the estimated location.

11. A method of scanning skin temperature on opposite sides of a patient'"'"'s spinal column, the method comprising:

providing a thermal scanner device having a plurality of thermal sensors;

positioning the scanner device so that at least one thermal sensor is positioned on each side of a patient'"'"'s spinal column;

advancing the thermal scanner device along the patient'"'"'s spinal column;

continuously recording the temperature readings from the thermal sensors as the device is advanced; and

recording a discrete temperature reading from at least one location on the patient, while maintaining the scanner device stationary.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the discrete temperature readings are taken at the anterior fossia behind the ear.

13. The method of claim 11 wherein the step of providing further comprises providing a scanner having a manually activated switch, and the method further comprises activating the switch between the steps of continuously recording temperature readings and the step taking discrete temperature readings.