Radiant energy – Invisible radiant energy responsive electric signalling – With or including a luminophor
Patent
1995-03-06
1997-06-03
Tokar, Michael J.
Radiant energy
Invisible radiant energy responsive electric signalling
With or including a luminophor
250361R, 250367, 128654, 128659, G01T 1203, A61B 600
Patent
active
056357176
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The present invention relates to an apparatus for detecting and locating radioactive biological markers. Such an apparatus is intended for finding .beta. and .gamma. radiation emitted by the radioactive nuclei coupled to molecules injected into the human body before a surgical operation.
In the prior art, European Patent No. 284,542 of the company NEOPROBE CORPORATION is, in particular, known, relating to a detector and locator for the emission of low-energy radiation.
This document describes an apparatus for detecting and locating radiation sources retained by a tumor in the environment of a body exhibiting a background radiation level, comprising a probe which can be manipulated by hand and comprising a casing having an anterior portion extending to a window which can be placed in the vicinity of the source, and a portion which can be gripped by hand, extending from the anterior portion.
The apparatus of the prior art furthermore comprises a detector circuit in the casing for producing induced charges in response to an interaction of the radiation with this detector and for supplying detector signals corresponding to these charges, transmission means for transmitting these detector signals, signal processing means and warning means which respond to drive signals by emitting an output signal which is perceptible in an audible manner, in response to the drive signals which are applied to it.
The signal processing means comprise an energy-level analysis network for evaluating the detector signals with respect to the noise exhibited by the apparatus and for producing pulse data output signals representing the radiation, excluding practically all the noise, range selection means for producing a range function value for the pulse data output signals, this value representing the rate of the pulse data output signals representing the background radiation level, and control means which respond to the pulse data output signals by continuously producing the rates of appearance of these signals, over predetermined time intervals, appearing successively, the duration of which is selected in order to allow rapid updating, and responding to each discrete value of the produced rate and of the range function by producing the drive signals which have a sound-generating frequency when the value of the appearance rate is greater than the range function value, so that the audibly perceptible output signal can be varied, in response to said sound-generating frequency, while being a function of the appearance rates of the pulse data output signals lying above the background radiation level.
The active probe of such an apparatus is of considerable size, which does not allow satisfactory use in all operational cases.
An image converter associated with a bundle of scintillating optical fibers has also been proposed in the prior art (French Patent No. 2,575,858).
As in the case of the previous apparatus, the large size does not allow optimum clinical use in all operations.
The object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for detecting and locating the .beta. and .gamma. radiation emitted by a radioactive tracer, which apparatus is inexpensive and is compatible with use in regions which are difficult to access.
For this purpose, the invention more particularly relates to an apparatus for detecting and locating ionizing-radiation sources retained by a tumor in the environment of a body, of the type comprising a probe which can be manipulated by hand and includes a casing comprising a detector circuit capable of producing a response to an interaction of the radiation with this detector, means for processing the signals coming from the detector circuit and warning means which respond to drive signals by emitting an audibly or visually perceptible output signal in response to the drive signals which are applied to it, characterized in that the manipulable probe comprises at least one scintillating plastic optical fiber connecting the detection end to a photodetector.
The apparatus according to the invention is composed of
REFERENCES:
patent: 4788436 (1988-11-01), Koechner
patent: 4959547 (1990-09-01), Carroll et al.
Journal of Nuclear Medicine, vol. 29, No. 6, Jun. 1988, New York, US, pp. 1101-1106; T. S. Hickernell et al, "Dual-Detector Probe for Surgical Tumor Staging".
Dimason
Tokar Michael J.
Tyler Virgil Orlando
LandOfFree
Apparatus for detecting and locating radioactive biological mark does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Apparatus for detecting and locating radioactive biological mark, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Apparatus for detecting and locating radioactive biological mark will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-393222