Computed tomography fluoroscopy system

• US 6,801,594 B1
• Filed: 11/26/1997
• Issued: 10/05/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 11/26/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: General Electric Company
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Senzig, Robert F., Ali, Fazle, Davis, Steven C., Faessler, Shawn P., Hsieh, Jiang
• Primary Examiner(s): Church, Craig E.
• Application Number:
  US08/979,279
• Time in Patent Office: 2,505 Days
• Field of Search: 378/4, 378/114, 378/115
• US Class Current: 378/4
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/032 Transmission computed tomography [CT]
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/4476 related to motor-assisted motion of the source unit
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/5258 involving detection or reduction of artifacts or noise
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/548 Remote control of the apparatus or devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/006 Inverse problem, transformation from projection-space into object-space, e.g. transform methods, back-projection, algebraic methods
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2211/421 Filtered back projection [FBP]
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2211/428 Real-time
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 378/901 Computer tomography program or processor

Abstract

A CT Fluoro system which, in one embodiment, includes an integrated controller, image reconstruction algorithms for increasing the speed of image display, and an enhanced image display, is described. The integrated controller enables the radiologist to maintain control of the system throughout the fluoro scan. The image reconstruction algorithms are generally directed to increasing the image frame rate or reducing image artifacts, or both, in the CT fluoro scan. The image display generally provides enhanced images and control to the radiologist during a scan procedure.

Claims

1. A computed tomography system comprising a display and configured to perform a fluoroscopy scan, said system also including a manual controller configured to manipulate images of a patient on said display during a fluoroscopy scan of the patient.

2. A computed tomography system in accordance with claim 1 wherein to manipulate images of a patient, said manual controller is configured to page displayed images forward and backwards, to save displayed images, to superimpose a grid on a displayed image, and to adjust preset window/levels, under manual operator control during a fluoroscopy scan.

3. A computed tomography system accordance with claim 1 further comprising a patient table and wherein said manual controller is further configured to manually control scan parameters and patient table motion.

4. A computed tomography system in accordance with claim 3 further comprising alignment lights configured to provide a scan plane reference on the patient, and wherein to manually control scan parameters, said manual controller is configured to manually initiate a gantry prep sequence and to manually control operation of said alignment lights.

5. A computed tomography system in accordance with claim 3 wherein to manually control patient table motion, said manual controller is configured to manually control table movement at a constant rate of speed, and to manually control table movement in preset distance increments.

6. A computed tomography system in accordance with claim 3 wherein to manually control patient table motion, said manual controller is configured to manually control movement of the patient table to a prescribed scan position, to manually control movement of the patient table at a constant speed, and to manually control latching and unlatching the patent table into a free-floating condition.

7. A computed tomography system configured to perform a fluoroscopy scan, said system also including a controller configured to selectively operate said system in a tap mode and in a continuous scan mode.

8. A computed tomography system in accordance with claim 7 wherein said controller comprises a foot pedal.

9. A computed tomography system in accordance with claim 7 further comprising an x-ray source and a display, and further configured to energize said x-ray source during said tap mode for a sufficient period of time to collect data for at least one image each time said controller is activated.

10. A computed tomography system in accordance with claim 7 further comprising an x-ray source, and further configured to de-energize said x-ray source within a predetermined period of time after deactuating said controller and after sufficient data has been collected to reconstruct a full image.

11. A computed tomography system comprising an x-ray source, an x-ray detector aligned with said x-ray source, a patient table configured to position a patient between said x-ray source and said x-ray detector, and a display configured to display images reconstructed from data acquired by said detector, said computed tomography system being configured to perform fluoroscopy scans of the patient, and further comprising a first manual controller configured to control scan parameters, motion of said patient table, and display of images on said display during a fluoroscopy scan of the patient, and a second manual controller configured to selectively control operation of said system in a tap mode and in a continuous scan mode.

12. A computed tomography system in accordance with claim 11 wherein to control display of images on said display, said first manual controller is configured to page displayed images forward and backwards, to save displayed images, to superimpose a grid on a displayed image, and to adjust preset window/levels, under manual operator control during a fluoroscopy scan.

13. A computed tomography system in accordance with claim 11 further comprising alignment lights configured to provide a scan plane reference on the patient, and wherein to manually control patient table motion and to control scan parameters, said first manual controller is configured to manually control table movement at a constant rate of speed, to manually control table movement in preset distance increments, and to manually control operation of said alignment lights.

14. A computed tomography system in accordance with claim 11 wherein to manually control patient table motion, said manual controller is configured to manually control table movement at a constant rate of speed, and to manually control table movement in preset distance increments.

15. A computed tomography system in accordance with claim 14 wherein to manually control patient table motions, said first controller is further configured to manually control movement of the patient table to a prescribed scan position, to manually control movement of the patient table at a constant speed, and to manually control latching and unlatching the patent table into a free-floating condition.

16. A computed tomography system in accordance with claim 11 wherein said second controller comprises at least one of a foot pedal, a hand switch, and a voice activated control.

17. A computed tomography system in accordance with claim 11 further configured to de-energize said x-ray source within a predetermined period of time after deactuating said second manually controller and after sufficient data has been collected to reconstruct a full image.

18. A computed tomography system in accordance with claim 11 further comprising alignment lights configured to provide a scan plane reference on the patient;

wherein to control scan parameters, motion of said patient table, and display of images on said display, said first manual controller is configured to manually initiate a gantry prep sequence, to manually control operation of said alignment lights, to manually control movement of the patient table to a prescribed scan position, to manually control movement of the patient table at a constant speed, to manually control latching and unlatching the patent table into a free-floating condition, to page displayed images forward and backwards, to save displayed images, to superimpose a grid on a displayed image, and to adjust preset window/levels, under manual operator control during a fluoroscopy scan.

19. A computed tomography system in accordance with claim 11 further comprising a gantry having mounted thereon said x-ray detector and said x-ray source, wherein said reconstructed images are three-dimensional images, said first controller comprises a track ball, and wherein said first controller is further configured to initiate an x-ray scan, to control view angle of a displayed three-dimensional image, to rock the displayed three-dimensional image back and forth at a predetermined speed, and to tilt the gantry.

20. A computed tomography system in accordance with claim 11 wherein said first manual controller is further configured to modify an image slice thickness during a procedure.

21. A computed tomograpy system in accordance with claim 11 further comprising a processor configured to perform image extrapolation to generate data for a fast image update.