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:
Dec. 13, 2005
Filed:
Mar. 30, 2001
Norbert J. Pelc, Los Altos, CA (US);
Rebecca Fahrig, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Marcus T. Alley, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Zhifei Wen, Mountain View, CA (US);
Norbert J. Pelc, Los Altos, CA (US);
Rebecca Fahrig, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Marcus T. Alley, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Zhifei Wen, Mountain View, CA (US);
The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University, Stanford, CA (US);
Abstract
An imaging system and method combines a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system and an x-ray fluoroscopy system such that the two systems have coincident fields of view. X-rays are generated by a stationary anode x-ray tube in which an electron beam is accelerated from a cathode to an anode. In the presence of the static magnetic field of the MRI system, the electron beam is deflected unless it is parallel to the static magnetic field. The x-ray source of the invention contains elements used to steer the electron beam and increase its focusing on the anode. The beam can be steered electrostatically, electromagnetically, or by adding magnetic material to the x-ray source. In the resulting system, MR and x-ray images are acquired without moving the object, which is particularly useful for image-guided medical intervention procedures.