Portable medical imaging system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10448910-B2
Application number	US-201615014083-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 3, 2016
Priority date	Feb 3, 2016
Publication date	Oct 22, 2019
Grant date	Oct 22, 2019

Abstract

A medical imaging system includes a movable station and a gantry. The movable station includes a gantry mount rotatably attached to the gantry. The gantry includes an outer C-arm slidably mounted to and operable to slide relative to the gantry mount, an inner C-arm slidably coupled to the outer C-arm and, an imaging signal transmitter and sensor attached to the C-arms. The two C-arms work together to provide a full 360 degree rotation of the imaging signal transmitter.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A medical imaging system comprising:
a movable station;
a gantry mount attached to the movable station;
a gantry rotatably attached to the gantry mount and including:
a first C-arm slidably mounted to and operable to slide relative to the gantry mount;
a second C-arm slidably coupled to the first C-arm;
an imaging signal transmitter attached to the second C-arms, the first and second C-arms together providing a 360 degree rotation of the imaging signal transmitter; and
an imaging sensor mounted to the other side of the second C-arm and facing the imaging signal transmitter,
wherein a plurality of uniformly spaced rollers are mounted on inner sides of side frames of the gantry mount;

a cable carrier containing a plurality of electrical cables; and
a first cable router having a through-hole and mounted to an outer surface of the first C-arm, wherein the cable carrier extending from the gantry mount over the outer surface of the first C-arm, through the through-hole of the first cable router and over an outer surface of the second C-arm.

2. The medical imaging system of claim 1 , further comprising: a controller; and at least three omni-directional wheels attached to the movable station and adapted to be controlled by the controller, the omni-directional wheels providing the movable station with three degrees of freedom (X,Y,Wag) about a horizontal plane.

3. The medical imaging system of claim 1 , wherein the cable carrier extends in a first circumferential direction and enters the first cable router in a second circumferential direction opposite to the first circumferential direction to create a 180 degree service loop over the outer surface of the first C-arm.

4. The medical imaging system of claim 1 , further comprising a second cable router having a throughhole and mounted to an outer surface of the second C-arm, wherein the cable carrier extending through the through-hole of the second cable router.

5. The medical imaging system of claim 1 , further comprising:
a second cable router having a through-hole and mounted to an outer surface of the second C-arm, the cable carrier extending through the through-hole of the second cable router;
wherein the cable carrier extends in a first circumferential direction and enters the first cable router in a second circumferential direction opposite to the first circumferential direction to create a 180 degree service loop over the outer surface of the first C-arm; and
wherein the cable carrier extends in the first circumferential direction and enters the second cable router in the second circumferential direction to create a second 180 degree service loop over the outer surface of the second C-arm.

6. The medical imaging system of claim 2 , further comprising strain gauges mounted to the movable station to allow a user to control movement of the omni-directional wheels under the control of the controller.

7. The medical imaging system of claim 2 , further comprising:
a first motor that provides a sliding movement of the first C-arm relative to the gantry mount; and
a second motor that provides a sliding movement of the first C-arm relative to the second C-arm.

8. The medical imaging system of claim 4 , wherein the cable carrier extends in a first circumferential direction and enters the second cable router in a second circumferential direction opposite to the first circumferential direction to create a service loop over the outer surface of the second C-arm.

9. A medical imaging system that provides a 6-degree of freedom movement comprising:
a movable station including at least four omni-directional wheels attached to and adapted to position the movable station in all three degrees of freedom (X, Y and Wag) about an x-y horizontal plane;
a gantry mount rotatably attached to the movable station;
a gantry rotatably attached to the gantry mount and including:
a first C-arm slidably mounted to and adapted to slide relative to the gantry mount in a circumferential direction;
a second C-arm slidably coupled to and adapted to slide relative to the first C-arm in a circumferential direction; and
an imaging signal transmitter attached to the second C-arm, the first and second C-arms together providing a 360 degree rotation of the imaging signal transmitter; an imaging sensor mounted to the other side of the second C-arm and positioned to be facing the imaging signal transmitter,
wherein the imaging signal transmitter is capable of moving with respect to the imaging sensor,
wherein a plurality of uniformly spaced rollers are mounted on inner sides of side frames of the gantry mount and
a cabling system including a first cable router mounted to the outer surface of the first C-arm and a second cable router mounted to the outer surface of the second C-arm.

10. The medical imaging system of claim 9 , further comprising:
a controller coupled to the omni-directional wheels; and
a joystick mounted to the movable station to allow a user to control movement of the omni-directional wheels under the control of the controller.

11. The medical imaging system of claim 9 , further comprising:
a first motor that provides a sliding movement of the first C-arm relative to the gantry mount; and
a second motor that provides a sliding movement of the first C-arm relative to the second C-arm.

12. The medical imaging system of claim 9 ,
wherein the cabling system contains a plurality of electrical cables;
the first cable router having a through-hole and mounted to an outer surface of the first C-arm, the cabling system includes a cable carrier extending from the gantry mount over the outer surface of the first C-arm, through the through-hole of the first cable router and over an outer surface of the second C-arm.

13. The medical imaging system of claim 9 , wherein a cable carrier extends in a first circumferential direction and enters the first cable router in a second circumferential direction opposite to the first circumferential direction to create a 180 degree service loop over the outer surface of the first C-arm; and wherein the cable carrier extends in the first circumferential direction and enters the second cable router in the second circumferential direction to create a second 180 degree service loop over the outer surface of the second C-arm.

14. The medical imaging system of claim 12 , wherein the cable carrier extends in a first circumferential direction and enters the first cable router in a second circumferential direction opposite to the first circumferential direction to create a 180 degree service loop over the outer surface of the first C-arm.

15. The medical imaging system of claim 12 , wherein the second cable router having a through-hole and mounted to an outer surface of the second C-arm, the cable carrier extending through the through-hole of the second cable router.

16. The medical imaging system of claim 15 , wherein the cable system extends in a first circumferential direction and enters the second cable router in a second circumferential direction opposite to the first circumferential direction to create a service loop over the outer surface of the second C-arm.

Assignees

• Globus Medical Inc

Inventors

• Johnson Norbert
• Stevens Robert
• Salem Hisham
• Cheng Yuan

Classifications

• A61B6/035

  Mechanical aspects of CT · CPC title

• A61B6/4405 Primary

  the apparatus being movable or portable, e.g. handheld or mounted on a trolley · CPC title

• A61B6/4441

  the rigid structure being a C-arm or U-arm · CPC title

• A61B6/032

  Transmission computed tomography [CT] · CPC title

• A61B6/54

  Control of apparatus or devices for radiation diagnosis · CPC title