Imaging chain with miniaturized C-arm assembly for mobile X-ray imaging system

摘要

A miniaturized C-arm and imaging apparatus (10) for use with X-ray diagnostic equipment and the like. An X-ray imaging system is coupled to a C-arm, including an X-ray source (C) and an image receptor (A) mounted upon opposing locations, respectively on the C-arm. The image receptor (A) includes a vacuum bottle type image intensifier (80). The image receptor (A) is characterized by an absence of fiber optic device, and the image intensifier (80) is characterized by an absence of micro channels therein. The C-arm is mass balanced about an axis of orbital rotation (16) and is pivotally coupled to an articulating arm assembly (18) supported upon a wheeled support base (32). The mass balance enables repositioning of the X-ray imaging system between an anterior-posterior view and an orthogonal lateral view with a single, orbital movement of the C-arm which also causes the views to define an imaging isocenter. The C-arm is preferably miniaturized to an approximate outside diameter of twenty-eight inches with a source-to-image distance of approximately fourteen inches. <IMAGE>