Tomographic radioisotopic imaging with a scintillation camera

Claim 2

Apparatus for tomographic imaging comprising: a. means for defining a sensing surface and for producing signals indicative of the location on said surface of impinging radiation originating in a particular field of interest; b. means for causing relative movement between said surface and said field of interest in a scanning pattern comprising backand-forth linear passes centered on a common axis of rotation coincident with the central axis of the field of interest; c. multichannel parallel-hole collimator means interposed between said surface and said field for restricting said impinging radiation at a given instant to radiation from a volume within said field originating from a given direction inclined with said surface, which collimator means is reversely oriented during coincident linear passes; and d. means for selectively summing the signals from different linear passes to produce a tomographic image of the radiation source distribution in any area lying in the field of interest.

Claim 3

Apparatus for tomographic imaging comprising: a. means for defining a sensing surface and for producing signals indicative of the location on said surface of impinging radiation originating in a particular field of interest; b. means for causing relative movement between said surface and said field of interest in a scanning pattern comprising back-and-forth linear passes centered on a common axis of rotation coincident with the central axis of the field of interest; c. multichannel parallel-hole collimator means interposed between said surface and said field for restricting said impinging radiation at a given instant to radiation from a volume within said field originating from a given direction inclined with said surface, which collimator means is reversely oriented during coincident linear passes; and d. means for selectively summing the signals from different linear passes to produce a tomographic image of the radiation source distribution in any area lying in the field of interest.

Claim 4

Apparatus for tomographic imaging comprising: a. means for defining a sensing surface and for producing signals indicative of the location on said surface of impinging radiation originating in a particular field of interest; b. means for causing relative movement between said surface and said field of interest in a scanning pattern comprising back-and-forth linear passes centered on a common axis of rotation coincident with the central axis of the field of interest; c. multichannel parallel-hole collimator means interposed between said surface and said field for restricting said impinging radiation at a given instant to radiation from a volume within said field originating from a given direction inclined with said surface, which collimator means is reversely oriented during coincident linear passes; and d. means for selectively summing the signals from different linear passes to produce a tomographic image of the radiation source distribution in any area lying in the field of interest.

Claim 5

Apparatus as in claim 1, comprising: e. means for producing signals indicative of the position of said surface-defining means relative to the field of interest with respect to a fixed coordinate system during movement; f. means for producing signals indicative of the orientation of said collimator means during each pass; and g. means for recording all of said indicative signals produced during said scanning movement.

Claim 6

Apparatus as in claim 2 comprising: h. means for supplying said recorded signals to said summing means; and i. means for utilizing the summed signals for producing a display of said tomographic image.

Claim 7

Apparatus as in claim 3 wherein said summing means comprises an electronic computer.

Claim 8

Apparatus as in claim 4 wherein said computer comprises means for selectively summing any portions of the recorded location signals in different linear passes.

Claim 9

Apparatus as in claim 4 comprising means for storing said recorded signals.

Claim 10

Apparatus as in claim 6 wherein said storing means is magnetic tape.

Claim 11

Apparatus as in claim 1 wherein said sensing surface defining means is a scintillation camera.

Claim 12

Apparatus for tomographic imaging of the radiation source distribution in an area lying in a field of interest comprising: a. a camera for sensing incidents of impinging radiation on the face thereof; b. a multi-channel parallel-hole collimator on said camera, the holes of which are all inclined at an identical angle with the camera face; c. means for causing relative movement between said camera face and said field of interest in a scanning pattern, comprising back-and-forth linear passes centered on a common axis of rotation coincident with the central axis of the field of interest; d. means for oppositely orienting said collimator during coincident linear passes; e. means for producing signals indicative of a vector quantity corresponding with the location of the impinging incidents with respect to a coordinate system on the camera face; f. means for producing signals indicative of a vector quantity corresponding to the position of the camera face relative to the field of interest with respect to a fixed coordinate system during movement; g. means for producing a signals indicative of a unit vector corresponding to the orientation of the collimator during each pass; h. means for Performing a vector summation to address the location of the incidents collected during scanning with respect to the fixed coordinate system and for recording the orientation of the collimator unit vector for the addressed incidents; and i. means for controlling the magnitude of the collimator unit vector and selectively summing the incident signals from different linear passes to produce tomographic images by accentuating the radiation source distributions in selected areas in said field of interest.

Claim 13

Apparatus for tomographic imaging of the radiation source distribution in an area lying in a field of interest comprising: a. a camera for sensing incidents of impinging radiation on the face thereof; b. a multi-channel parallel-hole collimator on said camera, the holes of which are all inclined at an identical angle with the camera face; c. means for causing relative movement between said camera face and said field of interest in a scanning pattern, comprising back-and-forth linear passes centered on a common axis of rotation coincident with the central axis of the field of interest; d. means for oppositely orienting said collimator during coincident linear passes; e. means for producing signals indicative of a vector quantity corresponding with the location of the impinging incidents with respect to a coordinate system on the camera face; f. means for producing signals indicative of a vector quantity corresponding to the position of the camera face relative to the field of interest with respect to a fixed coordinate system during movement; g. means for producing a signals indicative of a unit vector corresponding to the orientation of the collimator during each pass; h. means for Performing a vector summation to address the location of the incidents collected during scanning with respect to the fixed coordinate system and for recording the orientation of the collimator unit vector for the addressed incidents; and i. means for controlling the magnitude of the collimator unit vector and selectively summing the incident signals from different linear passes to produce tomographic images by accentuating the radiation source distributions in selected areas in said field of interest.

Claim 16

Method of tomographic imaging of the radiation source distribution in an area lying in a field of interest comprising the steps of: a. detecting the radiation originating in the field of interest which impinges on a given area and noting the locations of the impingements in the area; b. relatively moving the given area and the field of interest in a scanning pattern comprising back-and-forth linear passes centered on a common axis of rotation coincident with the central axis of the field of interest; c. restricting the impinging radiation to radiation from a given direction at an angle to said given area during movement and reversing the angle during coincident linear passes; and d. selectively summing the noted impingement locations of different linear passes to accentuate the radiation source distribution in any selected area in the field of interest providing a tomographic image.

Claim 17

Method of tomographic imaging of the radiation source distribution in an area lying in a field of interest comprising the steps of: a. detecting the radiation originating in the field of interest which impinges on a given area and noting the locations of the impingements in the area; b. relatively moving the given area and the field of interest in a scanning pattern comprising back-and-forth linear passes centered on a common axis of rotation coincident with the central axis of the field of interest; c. restricting the impinging radiation to radiation from a given direction at an angle to said given area during movement and reversing the angle during coincident linear passes; and d. selectively summing the noted impingement locations of different linear passes to accentuate the radiation source distribution in any selected area in the field of interest providing a tomographic image.

Claim 18

Method as in claim 10 comprising the further steps of: e. recording a vector quantity corresponding to the location of the impingements with respect to a coordinate system in the given area; f. recording a vector quantity corresponding to the position of the given area relative to the field of interest with respect to a fixed coordinate system during movement; g. recording a unit vector corresponding to the restrictive angle during each pass; h. summing the recorded vector information to address the impingements collected during scanning with respect to the fixed coordinate system; and i. controlling the magnitude of the unit vector during the selective summing.

Claim 19

Method as in claim 12 wherein the summing is performed in a digital computer.