METHOD FOR GENERATING A RESPIRATORY GATING SIGNAL IN AN X-RAY MICROTOMOGRAPHY SCANNER

摘要

The present invention relates to a method for generating a respiratory gating signal in an X-ray microtomography scanner, wherein the method comprises: acquiring a respiratory cycle of inhalation and exhalation of a laboratory animal from a camera recording images of the abdomen or chest of the laboratory animal, which has respiratory movement under anesthesia and is fixed on a couch between an X-ray detector and X-ray irradiator that are fixed to a rotating gantry; and measuring and displaying a respiration rate (for example, respirations per minute) in order to regulate the administration of anesthetic on the basis of the acquired respiratory cycle, and, when the respiratory movement is determined to have stopped, generating a respiratory gating signal with which the capture of images is to be synchronize. Thus, the method of the present invention can acquire a tomography image of a laboratory animal, which has a spatial resolution and signal to noise ratio that are relatively better than a respiratory gating method involving forcefully controlling a respiratory cycle of a laboratory animal with a ventilator or involving slowing a respiratory cycle of a laboratory animal with only the regulation of anesthetic.