JPH06138238A - Scintillation camera - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a scintillation camera in which automatic positioning, shifting and stopping, etc., of a detector are possible. CONSTITUTION:This scintillation camera includes a detector 2, 3 which can detect radiation from a subject 1, a moving mechanism 4 which can move the detector 2, 3 relative to the subject 1, and a control unit 5 for controlling the detector 2, 3 and the moving mechanism 4. Further, the detector 2, 3 is provided with a light emitting element 6, 7 and a light receiving element 8, 9 which serve as sensor means capable of detecting the position of the subject 1 relative to the detector 2, 3. The control unit 5 can operate the moving mechanism 4 in accordance with detection signals from the light receiving element 8, 9.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a scintillation camera for nuclear medicine equipment, and more particularly to a scintillation camera for automatically collecting whole body data.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A scintillation camera is a medical device capable of making a medical diagnosis of an organ by detecting gamma rays generated from an isotope injected into a patient's body.

A conventional scintillation camera is a detector capable of detecting radiation, particularly γ-rays, from a subject lying on a top plate, a moving mechanism capable of moving the detector relative to the subject, a detector, and It is equipped with a control device for controlling the moving mechanism, and it is possible to collect whole body data, that is, whole body data by detecting γ rays while moving the detector along a predetermined path. .

In order to collect whole body data, the detector is previously positioned at the scan start position and a predetermined scan length determined with reference to the height of the patient is input.

By doing so, the scan is completed at a predetermined position, and the whole body data can be obtained.

[0006]

However, the positioning at the scan start position is carefully set by the operator while observing the image from the detector so that the top of the patient's head or the tip of the foot enters the effective visual field edge of the detector. Was.

As a result, the operator is burdened with a large amount of operation and causes a long inspection time.

Further, the operator also inputs the data collection completion position as the scan length in consideration of the height of the patient, which is still a burden on the operation.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide a scintillation camera capable of automatically positioning, moving, stopping, etc. of a detector.

[0010]

In order to achieve the above object, the scintillation camera of the present invention has a detector capable of detecting radiation from a subject and the detector as a subject as described in claim 1. In a scintillation camera provided with a moving mechanism capable of relative movement with respect to the detector, and a control device for controlling the detector and the moving mechanism, a sensor means capable of detecting the position of the subject with respect to the detector is provided in the detector. On the other hand, the control device enables the moving mechanism in accordance with a detection signal from the sensor means.

[0011]

According to the scintillation camera of the present invention, when the detector is moved with respect to the subject while operating the sensor, and the sensor detects that the subject is at a predetermined position with respect to the detector. The control device positions, moves, stops, etc. the detector according to the detection signal.

[0012]

Embodiments of the scintillation camera of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIGS. 1 (a) and 1 (b) are a front view and a side view, respectively, of the scintillation camera of this embodiment, and FIG. 1 (a) is particularly shown as an overall block diagram. is there.

The scintillation camera according to the present embodiment has detectors 2 and 3 capable of detecting radiation, particularly γ-rays, emitted from the body of a patient 1 as a subject lying on the top 10.
And a moving mechanism 4 capable of moving the detectors 2 and 3 relative to the patient 1, and a controller 5 that controls the detectors 2 and 3 and the moving mechanism 4.

The detectors 2 and 3 are arranged so as to sandwich the patient 1 between the collimator surfaces 11 and 12, respectively, and move substantially the same by a moving mechanism 4.

The scintillation camera of this embodiment is further provided with a light emitting element 6 and a light receiving element 9 as sensor means capable of detecting the position of the patient 1 with respect to the detectors 2 and 3, respectively, in the detectors 2 and 3. The light emitting element 7 and the light receiving element 8 are provided in the detectors 3 and 2, respectively.

The light emitting elements 6 and 7 and the light receiving elements 8 and 9 are
As shown in FIG. 1, it is attached to the sensor holding portion 13 attached to the detectors 2 and 3.

The light emitting elements 6 and 7 are preferably composed of infrared light emitting elements, laser light emitting diodes and the like.

The light receiving elements 8 and 9 are arranged at positions where the light from the light receiving elements 7 and 6 can be directly received when the patient 1 is not lying on the top plate 10. When lying on the top plate 10, the light emitted from the light receiving elements 7 and 6 is arranged at a position where the light is blocked by the patient 1 and cannot be received.

The light emitting elements 6 and 7 can detect the presence or absence of the patient 1 regardless of the body thickness of the patient 1 by irradiating the light with predetermined angular widths θ 2 and θ 1, respectively. ing.

The control device 5 can operate the moving mechanism 4 according to the detection signals from the light receiving elements 8 and 9.

Next, the operation of the scintillation camera of this embodiment will be described.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart showing the procedure for positioning, moving, stopping, etc. of the detector using the scintillation camera of this embodiment.

First, the patient 1 is laid on the top 10 (step 101).

Then, the detectors 2 and 3 are moved away from each other, and the entire rotation angle is automatically set to 0 ° / 180 ° (step 102).

This is to return the detectors 2 and 3 stopped at an arbitrary angular position after the predetermined inspection is completed to the basic position.

Next, the detectors 2, 3 are horizontally moved by the moving mechanism 4 while operating the sensor means 6, 7, 8, 9. (Step 103).

In the following description, for convenience of explanation, the moving directions of the detectors 2 and 3 are the directions of arrows in FIG. 1 (b).

Here, when the detectors 2 and 3 are at the positions shown in FIG. 1B, the light emitted from the light emitting elements 6 and 7 is as shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 5, the light-receiving elements 9 and 8 reach the light-receiving elements 9 and 8 respectively without being interrupted in the middle,
A signal indicating that the patient 1 is not present is generated between the control device 5 and the control device 5, and the signal is continuously sent to the control device 5.

The control device 5 comprises sensor means 6, 7, 8, 9
Determines whether or not the presence of the patient 1 is detected (step 104), and the detectors 2 and 3 are allowed to horizontally move as they are until a signal indicating that the presence of the patient 1 is detected is received from the light receiving elements 9 and 8. The moving mechanism 4 is controlled.

When the sensor means 6, 7, 8 and 9 reach the crown of the patient 1, the light emitted from the light emitting elements 6 and 7 is as shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 3, the light receiving elements 9 and 8 are blocked by the crown of the patient 1 and do not reach the light receiving elements 8 and 9.
A signal to the effect that the presence of is detected is sent to the control device 5.

The controller 5 which has received the patient detection signal,
The detectors 2 and 3 are moved by the moving mechanism 4 so that the right end (FIG. 1 (b)) of the effective field of view of the detectors 2 and 3 is exactly on the crown of the patient 1 (step 105).

Here, the control device 5 includes the sensor means 6,
The distance from the horizontal position of the detectors 2 and 3 provided with 7, 8 and 9 to the right end of the effective visual field is preferably stored in advance as stored data.

Next, so-called window opening operation is performed to start data collection (step 106).

After the window opening operation is completed, the control device 5
While activating the sensor means 6, 7, 8 and 9, the detectors 2 and 3 are moved along a predetermined path through the moving mechanism 4 to continuously collect data (step 107).

Here, it is desirable to collect data along a path as close to the patient 1 as possible in order to obtain highly sensitive data.

The control device 5 uses the signal from the sensor means to determine whether the sensor means 6, 7, 8, 9 have detected the toes of the patient 1 (step 108).

When the sensor means 6, 7, 8 and 9 slightly exceed the toes of the patient 1, the light emitted from the light emitting elements 6 and 7 is:
The light receiving elements 9 and 8 come to reach again, and the light receiving elements 9 and 8 send a signal indicating that the patient 1 does not exist to the control device 5.

Upon receiving the signal indicating that there is no patient, the control device 5 moves the detectors 2 and 3 by the moving mechanism 4 until the left end of the effective field of view of the detectors 2 and 3 comes to the foot of the patient 1 ( Step 109).

The control device 5 comprises sensor means 6, 7, 8, 9
The distance from the horizontal position of the detectors 2 and 3 provided with to the left end of the effective visual field is preferably stored in advance as stored data.

When the left end of the effective field of view of the detectors 2 and 3 reaches the toes of the patient 1, the control device 5 stops the detectors 2 and 3 via the moving mechanism 4 and performs so-called window closing. Data collection is completed (step 110).

Finally, the controller 5 calculates the height of the patient 1 from the timing when the patient's crown is detected and the timing when the toes are detected, and outputs this as the whole body scan length (step 111).

The whole body scan length is used for displaying an image on a monitor.

As described above, in the scintillation camera of this embodiment, the detector can be automatically positioned at the starting position when collecting whole body data, so that the operator's operation load can be reduced. it can.

Furthermore, the scintillation camera of this embodiment can automatically detect the whole body data collection position and stop the movement of the detector, so that the scan length input operation by the operator can be omitted. .

Since the scan length can be automatically measured, optimum whole body display can be performed using the measured scan length.

In the above embodiment, the scanning direction is the direction from the crown of the patient to the toes, but the scanning direction may be reversed.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the number of detectors is two, but the number of scintillation cameras of the present invention is not limited to this, and may be one, for example.

In this case, the sensor holding portions may be attached to both sides of one detector, and the light receiving element and the light emitting element may be arranged in these sensor holding portions.

Further, in the above-mentioned embodiment, two sets of the light emitting element and the light receiving element are arranged to surely detect the patient, but it is also possible to arrange one set of the light emitting element and the light receiving element.

Further, in the above-mentioned embodiments, the light emitting element and the light receiving element are provided on the advancing direction side of the detector, but they may be provided on the opposite side to the advancing direction.

Further, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the table is fixed and the detector is moved, but the bed may be moved conversely.

[0053]

As described above, the scintillation camera of the present invention includes a detector capable of detecting radiation from a subject, a moving mechanism capable of moving the detector relative to the subject, and the detection means. In a scintillation camera having a detector and a control device for controlling the moving mechanism, the detector is provided with sensor means capable of detecting the position of the subject with respect to the detector, while the controller is By enabling the moving mechanism in accordance with the detection signal, the detector can be automatically positioned, moved, stopped, and the like.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1A is a front view of a scintillation camera of this embodiment, and FIG. 1B is a side view of the same.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the scintillation camera of this embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a view for explaining the action of the sensor means of the scintillation camera of this embodiment, (a) is a case where a patient is present,
Figure (b) shows the case where there is no patient.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Subject (patient) 2, 3 Detector 4 Moving mechanism 5 Control device 6, 7 Light emitting element (sensor means) 8, 9 Light receiving element (sensor means) 10 Top plate 13 Sensor holding part

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A detector comprising: a detector capable of detecting radiation from a subject; a moving mechanism capable of moving the detector relative to the subject; and a controller for controlling the detector and the moving mechanism. In the scintillation camera, while the sensor means for detecting the position of the subject with respect to the detector is provided in the detector, the control device can operate the moving mechanism according to the detection signal from the sensor means. A scintillation camera characterized in that 2. The scintillation camera according to claim 1, wherein the sensor means includes a light emitting element and a light receiving element. 3. The scintillation camera according to claim 1, wherein the control device is capable of measuring the whole body scan length of the subject using the detection signal from the sensor means.