System for quantitative radiographic imaging

Abstract

A system for spectroscopic imaging of bodily tissue in which a scintillation screen and a charged coupled device (CCD) are used to accurately image selected tissue. An x-ray source generates x-rays which pass through a region of a subject's body, forming an x-ray image which reaches the scintillation screen. The scintillation screen reradiates a apatial intensity pattern corresponding to the image, the pattern being detected by a CCD sensor. The image is digitized by the sensor and processed by a controller before being stored as an electronic image. Each image is directed onto an associated respective CCD or amorphous silicon detector to generate individual electronic representations of the separate images.

1 . An x-ray imaging device for imaging a patient comprising:
 an x-ray source;   an x-ray digital mammography imaging detector;   a support surface that supports a region of interest of a patient to be imaged between the x-ray source and the x-ray digital mammography imaging detector, the detector including a solid state amorphous silicon device having a two dimensional array of more than 512×512 pixels and generating image data of the region of interest;   an x-ray conversion device;   a fiber optic coupler that couples the x-ray conversion device to the imaging detector; and   a controller connected to the detector to control binned readout of image data to an electronic memory.   
     
     
         2 . The device of  claim 1  wherein the detector comprises a rectangular cassette. 
     
     
         3 . The device of  claim 1  further comprising a display that displays the image date of the region of interest. 
     
     
         4 . The device of  claim 1  further comprising a frame holding the source and the solid state device in fixed relation to each other. 
     
     
         5 . The device of  claim 1  further comprising a data storage device that electronically stores the image date of the region of interest. 
     
     
         6 . The device of  claim 1  wherein the x-ray source is positioned above the patient. 
     
     
         7 . The device of  claim 1  wherein the amorphous silicon device comprises an integrated silicon circuit. 
     
     
         8 . The device of  claim 1  further comprising a plurality of abutting imaging devices, each having more than 512×512 pixels. 
     
     
         9 . The device of  claim 1  wherein the detector includes a plurality of amorphous silicon sensors. 
     
     
         10 . The device of  claim 1  further comprising a tapering or expanding fiber optic coupler. 
     
     
         11 . The device of  claim 9  wherein the plurality of sensors includes a first amorphous silicon sensor that detects a first energy level and a second amorphous silicon sensor that detects a second energy level different from the first energy level. 
     
     
         12 . The device of  claim 11  wherein a higher energy level passes through the first sensor to the second sensor. 
     
     
         13 . An x-ray imaging device for imaging a patient comprising:
 an x-ray source;   an x-ray digital imaging detector;   a support surface that supports a region of interest of a patient to be imaged between the x-ray source and the imaging detector, the detector including a solid state amorphous silicon device having a single two dimensional array of more than 512×512 pixels and generating image data of the region of interest;   an x-ray conversion device; and   a controller connected to the detector to control binned readout of image data to an electronic memory.   
     
     
         14 . The device of  claim 13  wherein the detector comprises a rectangular cassette. 
     
     
         15 . The device of  claim 13  further comprising a display that displays the image data of the region of interest. 
     
     
         16 . The device of  claim 13  further comprising a frame holding the source and the solid state device in fixed relation to each other. 
     
     
         17 . The device of  claim 13  further comprising a data storage device that electronically stores the image data of the region of interest. 
     
     
         18 . The device of  claim 13  wherein the x-ray source is positioned about the patient. 
     
     
         19 . The device of  claim 13  wherein the solid state device comprises an integrated silicon circuit. 
     
     
         20 . The device of  claim 13  wherein the imaging detector further comprises a plurality of abutting imaging devices, each having more than 512×512 pixels. 
     
     
         21 . The device of  claim 13  wherein the detector includes a first amorphous silicon sensor and a second amorphous silicon. 
     
     
         22 . The device of  claim 13  further comprising a tapering or expanding fiber optic coupler. 
     
     
         23 . The device of  claim 13  further comprising a c-arm that aligns the x-ray source and detector. 
     
     
         24 . The device of  claim 13  wherein the controller bins at least 2×2 pixels. 
     
     
         25 . The device of  claim 13  wherein the x-ray conversion device comprises a CsI scintillator. 
     
     
         26 . The device of  claim 13  wherein the x-ray conversion device comprises a gadolinium oxysulfide. 
     
     
         27 . The device of  claim 13  wherein the x-ray source comprises a fan beam source. 
     
     
         28 . The device of  claim 13  wherein the controller is programmed to perform serial binning or parallel binning. 
     
     
         29 . The device of  claim 13  wherein the controllers selects groups of detector pixels for binning of image data. 
     
     
         30 . The device of  claim 13  further comprising operating the detector in a radiographic imaging made or serial imaging mode.