General Electric Company

Willi W Hampel

Thomas L Toth

Carmine F Vara

Steven John Woloschek

Russell Wayne Hum

David Michael Hoffman

Robert F Senzig

Guy M Besson

Hui Hu

Hui David He

Armin H Pfoh

Jonathan Alan Murray

George E Seidenschnur

Gary R Strong

The present invention, in one form, is an imaging system which, in one embodiment, utilizes a filter assembly including a plurality of filter portions for altering the intensity and quality of an x-ray beam. Specifically, in one embodiment, by positioning the filter assembly so that the x-ray beam is filtered by the first portion of the filter assembly, the x-ray beam is altered to perform a body portion scan. By positioning the filter assembly to the second portion, the x-ray beam is altered to perform a head portion scan.

Position dependent beam quality x-ray filtration

Methods and apparatus for dose reduction in a computed tomography (CT) system are described. In one embodiment, the CT system includes a pre-patient collimator and a configurable multislice detector array. The pre-patient collimator includes a plurality of eccentric cams and a filtration device for altering the x-ray beam radiated from a x-ray source. The eccentric cams are positioned to collimate the x-ray beam and may be independently positioned to provide z-axis correction of the x-ray beam. The filtration device includes a plurality of filters for altering the x-ray beam. In operation, an operator selects the type of test and the quantity and thickness of the slices. After altering the detector and collimator configuration, slice data for each slice is gathered.

Variable aperture z-axis tracking collimator for a computed tomograph system

The present invention is, in one aspect, an imaging system having a detector that has multiple detector cells extending along a z-axis, the detector being configured to collect multiple slices of data; and a scalable data acquisition system configured to convert signals from the detector to digital form, the scalable data acquisition system having a plurality of converter boards each with a plurality of channels, the channels and detector cells having an interweaved coupling to reduce susceptibility to band artifact.

Scalable multislice imaging system

Variable aperture z-axis tracking collimator for computed tomograph system

The present invention, in one form, is a pre-patient collimator for reducing patient x-ray dose during a scan with a computed tomography system. The collimator has a contoured aperture for emitting a generally rectangular shaped x-ray fan beam. The fan beam approximates the rectangular shape of x-ray detectors which gather data for producing an image.

Collimator for reducing patient x-ray dose

An x-ray collimator for collimating an x-ray beam is constructed of a rotatable mandrel with a series of longitudinal slots of varying widths. The width of the collimated beam may be controlled by rotating the mandrel so that the correct slot lines up with the uncollimated x-ray beam. The angle of the beam may also be corrected by smaller angular rotations of the mandrel to offset the exit aperture of the slot. The entrance aperture of each slot is larger than the exit aperture so that such centerline adjustments do not affect the x-ray fan beam width. A very low backlash brake holds the mandrel against perturbing torques when collimator is in position. The brake includes a friction element and a means of reducing the torque of the positioning motor to reduce the effect of such perturbing torques.

High precision x-ray collimator

A polymer attenuation filter in a CT machine is mounted at its center and allowed to expand freely at its ends to prevent cracking of the filter as it expands with temperature and after it becomes brittle with x-ray exposure. Vertical expansion of the filter at its center is accommodated by a stress relief hole cut between the center fastening points. Relatively greater horizontal expansion is accommodated by means of spring clamping. Difference in expansion between a metallic strip filter and its support is accommodated by tightly affixing the ends of the filter to the support so that the metallic strip is always under tension and cannot buckle.

Growing community of inventors

St. Francis, WI, United States of America

Willi W Hampel