The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Apr. 17, 2001
Filed:
Apr. 22, 1999
Ian Robert Young, Nr Marlborough, GB;
Picker International, Inc., New York, NY (US);
Abstract
When imaging a region of a patient using a contrast agent, for example in magnetic resonance imaging apparatus including a superconducting magnet,it is usual to take an image before and after injection of a contrast agent from an injector,into the patient. The invention provides a second injector,which contains a sample of the patient's blood or saline or other injectable medium which leads directly to the region of interest being imaged in the patient via a catheter,which has an expandible tip which can be expanded to block off the vessel in question. The injector can then be used to inject a bolus of injectable medium into the region of interest, whereupon a further image can be taken, and the catheter can be collapsed to unblock the vein whereupon an image in the presence of the contrast agent can be taken. This enables a second pair of images of the region of interest without and with contrast agent to be prepared, and this can be useful when detecting small blood flows to enable additional sensitivity to be achieved.