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. 08, 2003
Filed:
Mar. 23, 2001
Katsunori Suzuki, Kashiwa, JP;
Shigeru Sato, Kita-soma-gun, JP;
Hitachi Medical Corporation, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
Imaging and image reconstruction are sequentially performed for slices of a subject, and realtime images of the slices are displayed substantially at the same time. The slices may be perpendicular or parallel to one another, or they may form a stereoscopic pair. The images may be displayed two-dimensionally, or they may be combined and displayed three-dimensionally. One of the slices includes an insertion (a needle) for puncture or biopsy that is inserted into the subject by an operator, and it is parallel with a direction in which the insertion should advance. If the needle is displaced from the slice and a shade of the needle disappears from the sequentially-displayed images of the slice while the operator moves the needle toward an affected part in the subject in IVR, the shade of the needle appears on the sequentially-displayed images of another slice that is perpendicularly intersecting to or is adjacent and parallel to the above-mentioned slice. Hence, the operator can always determine the position and advancing direction of the needle.