Abstract: A gamma ray collimator assembly for use in a cardiac inspection system. A collimator has a plurality of collimator elements with the collimator walls absorbing gamma rays. The collimator walls have a base layer of a first material covered by a layer of a second material which preferentially absorbs inelastically scattered gamma rays generated in the first material.

Abstract: A two- and three-dimensional autoradiographical imaging system is provided which includes a charge coupled device for detecting the emission of radioactively labeled substances from materials such as tissue samples, brains of humans or animals, or substances used in electrophoresis applications. In a first aspect, a radioactively labeled substance is included in a tissue sample. The tissue sample is sequentially imaged by a charge coupled device and a sectioning tool such as a microtome to produce a plurality of two-dimensional images. A three-dimensional image of the tissue sample is generated by further processing of the plurality of two-dimensional images derived from the charge coupled device. In a further aspect of the invention, a charge coupled device is utilized to provide realtime imaging of metabolic or physiological parameters involved in brain activity.

Abstract: A transcutaneous bilirubin detector comprising a source of light having spectral components absorbable and not absorbable by bilirubin, a handle assembly, electronic circuitry and a fiber optic bundle connecting the assembly to the light source and circuitry. Inside the assembly is a prism that receives the light from one end of the fiber optic bundle and directs it onto the skin and directs the reflected light back into the bundle. The other end of the bundle is trifucated, with one end going to the light source and the other two ends going to circuitry that determines how much light of each kind has been reflected. A relatively greater amount absorbed by the skin from the portion of the spectrum absorbable by bilirubin may indicate the presence of the illness. Preferably, two measurements are made, one on the kneecap and one on the forehead, and compared to determine the presence of bilirubin.

Abstract: Microspheres labeled with a dye for which the absorption spectra is known permit the measurement of blood flows, particularly regional myocardial blood flow (RMBF), without radiation safety concerns and radioactive waste disposal problems. Polystyrene spheres, nominally of diameter 15.+-.0.1 [SD] um and density 1.09 g/ml, are dyed with a fixed quantity, nominally 30 picograms per microsphere, with one of several, nominally 5, colored dyes. The colored microspheres (CM) are injected into the left atrium or into a coronary perfusion. The CM are extracted from myocardium and blood by digestion with KOH and subsequent microfiltration. The dyes are then recovered from the CM within a defined volume of a solvent, and their concentrations are determined by spectrophotometry. The composite absorbance or emission spectra of several dyes are mathematically resolved using matrix inversion. Leaching of dye from the CM was less than 0.

Abstract: An apparatus for making bioelectromagnetic measurements of the human body includes an apparatus for measuring the bioelectromagnetic reaction of a living body to a tactile stimulation and a tactile stimulator that controllably applies a tactile stimulation to the body without creating a magnetic or electrical field that is detected directly by the apparatus for measuring the bioelectromagnetic reaction. The tactile stimulator includes a pressure chamber closed on one side by a movable body such as a piston or flexible membrane, a conduit that transmits pneumatic pressure to the pressure chamber, and apparatus for applying pneumatic pressure to the conduit. The measuring apparatus, such as a biomagnetometer, may be located within a shielded room, and in this case the pressure chamber and movable body are preferably located within the shielded room, the apparatus for applying pneumatic pressure is located outside the room, and the conduit passes from the exterior to the interior of the room.

Abstract: A spark gap unit that is easy to manufacture and significantly lighter than previously used spark gap units for generating underwater shock waves, particularly for non-invasive lithotrispy, has an internal conductor with an inner electrode, an insulation which at least partially envelops the internal conductor, and an external conductor with a bow and an outer electrode. The internal conductor is significantly shorter than the external conductor, and the external conductor at the rearward end of the spark gap unit projects beyond the internal conductor. The internal conductor, the insulation, and the external conductor are coaxially arranged. An outside diameter of the internal conductor is relatively small in comparison to an inside diameter of the external conductor. The spark gap unit has a hollow space inside the insulation, this hollow space being open in the direction of a rearward end of the spark gap unit.

Abstract: Disclosed are three forms of an angioplastic instrument employing a ferrite material inductively-heated from outside a patient's body to soften plaque occluding a lumen of a vas of the patient. In a first form, the angioplastic instrument is comprised solely of a thin guide wire having a ferrite-coated tip at its distal end. Each of the other two forms of the angioplastic instrument heats the liquid filling the balloon of an angioplastic balloon catheter with the inductively-heated ferrite material. By utilizing ferrite materials having different Curie temperatures, the amount of heating can be adjusted for a particular treatment protocol. Also, by limiting the value of the Curie temperature of the ferrite material to a safe value, the tissue underlying the vas is inherently protected from undue injury due to overheating.

Abstract: A blood pressure measuring system for continuously measuring blood pressure values of a subject, including a measuring device for repetitively measuring a blood pressure value of the subject, a display device for indicating a time-wise trend of the measured blood pressure values, a memory device for storing a plurality of sets of data representing a plurality of predetermined time-wise trends of blood pressure, respectively, a designating device for designating one of the plurality of sets of data, and an indicating device for commanding the display device to indicate, according to the designated one set of data, a corresponding one of the plurality of predetermined time-wise trends of blood pressure, together with the time-wise trend of the measured blood pressure values.

Abstract: The present disclosure relates to a method and apparatus for localizing an object in space, such as a gallstone in a human, using stereo imaging and ultrasound imaging. The localization system is described in connection with a dry table shock wave lithotripter, and uses a conventional ultrasound imaging system but wherein the ultrasound transducer has been modified to enable its location in space to be readily determined automatically. This is accomplished by providing a hood fixed to this transducer, the hood having a plurality of reference points which may be in the form of light sources such as LEDs. This hood is imaged by head and foot video cameras.