Handheld ultrasound and nuclear medicine fusion imaging device

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a new concept of fusion imaging device for simultaneously providing anatomical information and functional/biochemical information of human bodies, to accurately localize lesions in the pre-operative process and measure in real time, thereby ensuring the stability of patients with lower radiation doses than the existing fusion imaging devices such as positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT) and single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT)/CT, and includes: a transducer to transmit and receive an ultrasound; a matching layer positioned on top of the transducer to reduce a difference in acoustic resistance between the transducer and an affected part, to support an ultrasound beam to be smoothly transmitted into tissues and a reflected beam to be received with high sensitivity; a backing member to absorb the ultrasound on an opposite side of the affected part with respect to the transducer; and a scintillator to detect gamma rays which are radiation, wherein an ultrasound medical device and a nuclear medicine detector are combined into one probe using the backing member as a collimator of a nuclear medicine probe.