Surgery – Diagnostic testing – Detecting nuclear – electromagnetic – or ultrasonic radiation
Reexamination Certificate
2001-10-05
2004-07-13
Imam, Ali (Department: 3737)
Surgery
Diagnostic testing
Detecting nuclear, electromagnetic, or ultrasonic radiation
Reexamination Certificate
active
06763260
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF INVENTION
The invention relates to a system for acquiring a plurality of images of a patient, and particularly an image-acquisition system having a controller that receives a monitoring signal and generates an “acquire” output based in part on the monitoring signal.
During a catheterization laboratory procedure (also referred to as a cath-lab procedure), a contrast medium, such as a radio-opaque dye, is injected via a catheter into the patient. For example, the dye may be injected within the patient's heart during an angiograph procedure. When acquiring an image of the area of interest, the dye is used to increase the contrast of the acquired image. The clinician (e.g., the doctor) can then more easily spot plaque blockages or evaluate anatomy (e.g., heart) function.
At the start of the cath-lab procedure, a catheter is typically inserted through an incision, and then fed through an artery up to the area of interest. During the preparation process, an imaging system, such as a x-ray system, uses low-dose radiation for producing low-quality images. The low-quality images are used to guide the catheter to the area of interest. This low-quality image mode is typically referred to as “fluoro mode,” and limits the amount of radiation to which the patient is exposed.
Once the catheter is properly positioned, a contrast medium injector (e.g., the dye injector) injects the contrast medium (e.g., the radio-opaque dye) into the area of interest. For prior procedures, an operator (e.g., a doctor, nurse, technician, etc.) manually enters an input to the imaging system during the injection. The manual input changes the state of the imaging system from the fluoro mode to an acquisition mode (also referred to as “cine mode”). During the acquisition mode, the imaging system uses high-dose radiation for acquiring high-resolution images of the area of interest. The high-resolution images are used for analysis by the clinician.
SUMMARY OF INVENTION
For analog systems, the images are acquired with a 35-mm movie film. Typically, the analog system acquires several seconds of frames at a rate of thirty frames per second (fps). Depending on the patient and the number of areas of interest, a clinician may acquire over two-thousand frames per case. For prior systems, because the operator is starting the acquisition mode by entering a manual input, the acquisition period (i.e., the period when the imaging system is in high-resolution mode) is typically unduly long. For example, the operator typically starts the acquisition mode while the catheter is filing with the contrast medium. This guarantees that the acquisition period (also referred to as the “loop”) begins before the contrast medium diffuses through the area of interest. Further, the operator typically ends the loop after the contrast medium is too diluted in the area of interest to generate a useful image. This guarantees that the contrast medium has completely run its course. The excessively long acquisition period results in excessive radiation exposure for the patient and staff. Additionally, tube life is reduced since the excessively long acquisition mode is more taxing on the radiation or imaging tube of the imaging system than it really needs to be.
Additionally, an increasing number of imaging systems are acquiring the images using digital acquisition systems, and are storing the acquired digital images on magnetic or optical media. At the time this patent was applied for, current digital imaging systems may use a resolution of 1,024 pixels×1,024 pixels×16 bits/pixels, or two megabytes per frame. For a two thousand frame case, the above resolution results in an image file of four gigabytes of data. While storage devices and networks are continuously increasing in capacity, storing and transmitting multiple image sets of this size is still a challenge for existing technologies.
Accordingly, it would be beneficial to provide a system that optimizes the acquisition period or loop. Optimizing the acquisition period reduces the amount of radiation exposure the patient and staff receive, increases tube life, and reduces the image-set file size. At several loops per case, the reduced exposure, increased tube life and reduced image file size quickly add up for significant benefits. Of course, the optimization period may vary with each loop. Considerations used for optimizing the acquisition period may include, but are not limited to, when the contrast medium is injected within the area of interest, the size of the area of interest, the amount of contrast medium injected, the demographics of the patient (e.g, heart rate, blood pressure, etc.), and similar considerations.
In one embodiment, the invention provides a system for acquiring a plurality of internal images of a patient. The system includes a contrast medium injector operable to introduce a contrast medium within the patient and to generate a movement signal regarding a movement of the medium, and a controller in communication with the injector. The controller is operable to receive the movement signal and to generate a control signal having an acquire output based on the movement signal. The image-acquisition system further includes an imaging system having an imaging device that acquires internal images of the patient. The imaging system is operable to receive the control signal and acquire the plurality of images in response to receiving the acquire output.
In another embodiment, the system includes a housing connectable to a medium movement sensor. The medium movement sensor generates a movement signal regarding a movement of the medium. The housing is also connectable to an imaging device. The imaging device acquires the internal images upon receiving a control signal having an acquire output. The system further includes a controller secured to the housing. The controller is operable to receive the movement signal, to generate a control signal having an acquire output based on the movement signal, and to provide the control signal having an acquire output to the imaging device.
In another embodiment the invention provides a method of acquiring a plurality of images of a patient. The method includes determining when a contrast medium is entering the patient, generating an acquire output when the contrast medium enters the patient, providing the acquire output to an imaging device, and acquiring the plurality of images with the imaging device upon receiving the acquire output. Other features and advantages of the invention will become apparent by consideration of the detailed description and accompanying drawings.
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patent: 4917085 (1990-04-01), Smith
patent: 6240311 (2001-05-01), Prince
patent: 6408201 (2002-06-01), Foo et al.
GE Medical Systems Information Technologies Inc.
Imam Ali
Michael & Best & Friedrich LLP
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