Image handling and display in x-ray mammography and tomosynthesis
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A tomosynthesis system comprising an anti-scatter grid that remains focused on the x-ray source in at least one dimension of the grid, said system further comprising:
- an x-ray source selectively emitting an imaging x-ray beam, a breast immobilizing structure defining a volume for a patient'"'"'s breast, and an x-ray imaging receptor arranged such that said x-ray beam passes first through said volume and then through said anti-scatter grid before impinging on said imaging receptor;
a source support mounting said x-ray source for selective movement relative to the breast immobilizing structure;
an x-ray data acquisition control configured to;
cause the x-ray source to move through a plurality of different imaging positions relative to the breast immobilizing structure and selectively illuminate said imaging receptor with said x-ray beam, andcause said imaging receptor to provide imaging data in response to being illuminated with said x-ray beam for said different imaging positions;
wherein said anti-scatter grid remains focused on the x-ray source in at least one dimension of the grid while said x-ray source is moving through said different imaging positions;
a processing and image reconstruction unit configured to receive and process said imaging data and obtain a plurality of projection images Tp and a plurality of reconstructed slices images Tr, wherein;
each image Tp is a projection x-ray image of said volume taken with said x-ray beam for a respective one of said plurality of different positions of the x-ray source relative to the breast immobilizing structure; and
each image Tr is an image of a respective 3-dimensional slice of said volume reconstructed through computer processing using at least several of said projection images Tp; and
an image display unit configured to selectively display one or more of said slice images Tr and projection images Tp.
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Abstract
A method and system for acquiring, processing, storing, and displaying x-ray mammograms Mp tomosynthesis images Tr representative of breast slices, and x-ray tomosynthesis projection images Tp taken at different angles to a breast, where the Tr images are reconstructed from Tp images.
165 Citations
41 Claims
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1. A tomosynthesis system comprising an anti-scatter grid that remains focused on the x-ray source in at least one dimension of the grid, said system further comprising:
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an x-ray source selectively emitting an imaging x-ray beam, a breast immobilizing structure defining a volume for a patient'"'"'s breast, and an x-ray imaging receptor arranged such that said x-ray beam passes first through said volume and then through said anti-scatter grid before impinging on said imaging receptor; a source support mounting said x-ray source for selective movement relative to the breast immobilizing structure; an x-ray data acquisition control configured to; cause the x-ray source to move through a plurality of different imaging positions relative to the breast immobilizing structure and selectively illuminate said imaging receptor with said x-ray beam, and cause said imaging receptor to provide imaging data in response to being illuminated with said x-ray beam for said different imaging positions; wherein said anti-scatter grid remains focused on the x-ray source in at least one dimension of the grid while said x-ray source is moving through said different imaging positions; a processing and image reconstruction unit configured to receive and process said imaging data and obtain a plurality of projection images Tp and a plurality of reconstructed slices images Tr, wherein; each image Tp is a projection x-ray image of said volume taken with said x-ray beam for a respective one of said plurality of different positions of the x-ray source relative to the breast immobilizing structure; and each image Tr is an image of a respective 3-dimensional slice of said volume reconstructed through computer processing using at least several of said projection images Tp; and an image display unit configured to selectively display one or more of said slice images Tr and projection images Tp. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A method of imaging a patient'"'"'s breast with x-rays comprising:
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selectively emitting an imaging x-ray beam that passes through a patient'"'"'s breast immobilized in a breast immobilizing structure and then through an anti-scatter grid before impinging on an x-ray imaging receptor; moving the x-ray source through a plurality of different imaging positions relative to the breast immobilizing structure and selectively energizing the source to illuminate said imaging receptor with said x-ray beam; obtaining imaging data from the imaging receptor in response to illumination thereof with said x-ray beam for said different imaging positions; maintaining said anti-scatter grid focused on the x-ray source in at least one dimension of the grid while said x-ray source is moving through said imaging positions; computer-processing said imaging data to generate a plurality of images Tp and a plurality of images Tr, wherein each image Tp is a projection x-ray image of the patient'"'"'s breast taken with said x-ray beam for a respective one of said plurality of imaging positions of the x-ray source relative to the breast immobilizing structure, and each image Tr is an image of a respective 3-dimensional slice of the patient'"'"'s breast reconstructed through computer processing using at least several of said images Tp; and selectively displaying one or more of said slice images Tr and projection images Tp. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37)
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38. A method of providing and displaying x-ray images of a patient'"'"'s breast comprising:
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obtaining x-ray imaging data describing a plurality of images Tp and a plurality of images Tr, wherein each image Tp relates to a projection x-ray image of the patient'"'"'s breast taken for a respective one of said plurality of imaging positions of relative to an immobilized patient'"'"'s breast and each image Tr relates to an image of a respective 3-dimensional slice of the patient'"'"'s breast reconstructed through computer processing using at least several of said images Tp; generating CAD information related to suspected abnormalities in at least one of said images Tp and Tr; selectively displaying concurrently at least two of said images Tr and images Tp; and selectively displaying, concurrently with the display of at least two of said images Tr and Tp, CAD marks related to said CAD information and associated with at least one of the displayed images. - View Dependent Claims (39, 40, 41)
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Specification