EXTREMITY IMAGING APPARATUS FOR CONE BEAM COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY

摘要

An apparatus for cone beam computed tomography of an extremity has a digital radiation detector and a first device to move the detector along a circular detector path extending so that the detector moves both at least partially around a first extremity of the patient and between the first extremity and a second, adjacent extremity. The detector path has radius R1 sufficient to position the extremity approximately centered in the detector path. There is a radiation source with a second device to move the source along a concentric circular source path having a radius R2 greater than radius R1, radius R2 sufficiently long to allow adequate radiation exposure of the first extremity for an image capture by the detector. A first circumferential gap in the source path allows the second extremity to be positioned in the first circumferential gap during image capture.

主权项

1. A method for cone beam computed tomography, the method comprising:
moving a digital radiation detector along at least a portion of a detector path, the at least a portion of the detector path extending so that the digital radiation detector is configured to move at least partially around a first extremity of a patient, the detector path having a distance D1 that is sufficiently long to allow the first extremity to be positioned within the detector path; moving a radiation source along at least a portion of a source path outside the detector path, the source path having a distance D2 greater than the distance D1, the distance D2 being sufficiently long to allow adequate radiation exposure of the first extremity for an image capture by the digital radiation detector; moving the radiation source at a source position along the source path in correspondence to a detector position for the detector along the detector path during the image capture; and providing a first gap in the detector path.