Radioactive emission detector equipped with a position tracking system
First Claim
1. A method of obtaining an image of a radioactivity emitting source in a patient'"'"'s body comprising:
- scanning the radioactivity emitting source with a probe comprising at least one collimator defining a first angle from which the probe detects radiation events to obtain image data at a first resolution or less;
monitoring one or more positions of said radioactive emission probe in different planes around said radioactivity emitting source;
data processing said image data at a first resolution and said one or more positions, wherein said data processing comprises correcting blurring effects related to the direction from which radiation events are detected with the at least one collimator thereby generating similarity to detecting radiation events using a collimator with a second angle narrower than said first angle, said second angle obtaining image data at a second resolution, higher than said first resolution; and
forming a three-dimensional model of said radioactivity emitting source by said data processing, wherein said three-dimensional model is in said second resolution.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A radioactive emission probe in communication with a position tracking system and the use thereof in a variety of systems and methods of medical imaging and procedures, are provided. Specifically, wide aperture collimation—deconvolution algorithms are provided, for obtaining a high-efficiency, high resolution image of a radioactivity emitting source, by scanning the radioactivity emitting source with a probe of a wide-aperture collimator, and at the same time, monitoring the position of the radioactive emission probe, at very fine time intervals, to obtain the equivalence of fine-aperture collimation. The blurring effect of the wide aperture is then corrected mathematically. Furthermore, an imaging method by depth calculations is provided, based on the attenuation of photons of different energies, which are emitted from the same source, coupled with position monitoring.
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Citations
29 Claims
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1. A method of obtaining an image of a radioactivity emitting source in a patient'"'"'s body comprising:
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scanning the radioactivity emitting source with a probe comprising at least one collimator defining a first angle from which the probe detects radiation events to obtain image data at a first resolution or less; monitoring one or more positions of said radioactive emission probe in different planes around said radioactivity emitting source; data processing said image data at a first resolution and said one or more positions, wherein said data processing comprises correcting blurring effects related to the direction from which radiation events are detected with the at least one collimator thereby generating similarity to detecting radiation events using a collimator with a second angle narrower than said first angle, said second angle obtaining image data at a second resolution, higher than said first resolution; and forming a three-dimensional model of said radioactivity emitting source by said data processing, wherein said three-dimensional model is in said second resolution. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A method of obtaining a high resolution image of a radioactivity emitting source in a patient'"'"'s body comprising:
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scanning a radioactive source from a multitude of different directions and/or distances using a radioactive probe comprising one or more collimators, each defining a collimation angle from which the probe detects radiation events so that fields of view from one or more of said collimation angles overlap, to acquire image data at a first resolution or less; monitoring a position and orientation of said one or more collimators during said scanning; and forming a three-dimensional image of the radioactive source at a second resolution by data processing said image data at a first resolution and said monitored position and orientation to form images at said second resolution, wherein said second resolution is higher than said first resolution. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
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Specification