Image handling and display in X-ray mammography and tomosynthesis
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A tomosynthesis system 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 the volume for the patient'"'"'s breast before impinging on the imaging receptor;
a source support mounting the 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 the imaging receptor with the x-ray beam for each of the imaging positions, andcause the imaging receptor to provide imaging data in response to being illuminated with the x-ray beam for the different imaging positions;
a processing and image reconstruction unit configured to receive and process the imaging data and generate a plurality of projection x-ray images Tp and a plurality of reconstructed slices images Tr, wherein;
each image Tp is a projection x-ray image of the volume for the patient'"'"'s breast taken with the x-ray beam for a respective one of the 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 the volume for the patient'"'"'s breast reconstructed through computer processing using at least several of the projection images Tp; and
an image display unit configured to selectively display selected ones of the slice images Tr and projection images Tp concurrently with indicia identifying each displayed image as a projection or a slice image.
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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.
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Citations
23 Claims
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1. A tomosynthesis system 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 the volume for the patient'"'"'s breast before impinging on the imaging receptor; a source support mounting the 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 the imaging receptor with the x-ray beam for each of the imaging positions, and cause the imaging receptor to provide imaging data in response to being illuminated with the x-ray beam for the different imaging positions; a processing and image reconstruction unit configured to receive and process the imaging data and generate a plurality of projection x-ray images Tp and a plurality of reconstructed slices images Tr, wherein; each image Tp is a projection x-ray image of the volume for the patient'"'"'s breast taken with the x-ray beam for a respective one of the 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 the volume for the patient'"'"'s breast reconstructed through computer processing using at least several of the projection images Tp; and an image display unit configured to selectively display selected ones of the slice images Tr and projection images Tp concurrently with indicia identifying each displayed image as a projection or a slice image. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A method comprising:
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moving an x-ray source through a plurality of different imaging positions relative to a breast immobilizing structure and selectively illuminating the immobilizing structure and then an imaging receptor with the x-ray beam for each of the imaging positions; deriving imaging data from the imaging receptor in response to being illuminated with the x-ray beam for said different imaging positions; computer-processing the imaging data to generate projection x-ray images Tp and a plurality of reconstructed slices images Tr, wherein; each image Tp is a projection x-ray image of the volume for the patient'"'"'s breast taken with the x-ray beam for a respective one of the 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 the volume for the patient'"'"'s breast reconstructed through computer processing using at least several of the projection images Tp; and selectively displaying selected ones of the slice images Tr and projection images Tp concurrently with indicia identifying each displayed image as a projection or a slice image. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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23. A method comprising:
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moving an x-ray source through a plurality of different imaging positions relative to a breast immobilizing structure and selectively illuminating the immobilizing structure and then an imaging receptor with the x-ray beam for each of the imaging positions; deriving imaging data from the imaging receptor in response to being illuminated with the x-ray beam for said different imaging positions; computer-processing the imaging data to generate projection x-ray images Tp and a plurality of reconstructed slices images Tr, wherein; each image Tp is a projection x-ray image of the volume for the patient'"'"'s breast taken with the x-ray beam for a respective one of the 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 the volume for the patient'"'"'s breast reconstructed through computer processing using at least several of the projection images Tp; and concurrently displaying two or more images, of which at least one is a slice image Tr and at least one is a projection image Tp.
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Specification