Imaging Probe
The design of a compact, handheld, solid-state and high-sensitivity imaging probe and a micro imager system is reported. These instruments can be used as a dedicated tool for detecting and locating sentinel lymph nodes and also for detecting and imaging radioactive material. The reported device will use solid state pixel detectors and custom low-noise frontend/readout integrated circuits. The detector will be designed to have excellent image quality and high spatial resolution. The imaging probes have two different embodiments, which are comprised of a pixelated detector array and a highly integrated readout system, which uses a custom multi-channel mixed signal integrated circuit. The instrument usually includes a collimator in front of the detector array so that the incident photons can be imaged. The data is transferred to an intelligent display system. A hyperspectral image can also be produced and displayed. These devices are designed to be portable for easy use.
This application is a divisional of co-pending U.S. Non-Provisional patent application Ser. No. 11/202183 filed Aug. 12, 2005, which is a continuation of parent U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/279,003 filed Oct. 24, 2002, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,940,070, which claims the benefit of the filing date of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/330,597 filed Oct. 25, 2001, each of which is incorporated herein by reference.
FIELD OF INVENTIONThe focus of this work is to develop an enhanced portable imaging probe for detecting and locating sentinel lymph nodes during breast cancer surgery. It may also be used for scintimammography: diagnosis and accurate location of breast cancer tumors and their spread to surrounding tissue, especially axillary lymph nodes. It is expected to improve and expedite the sentinel node detection and locating, and enhance breast and other cancer surgery.
The instruments described can also be used for many different applications. In medical imaging, for example, they can be used for many types of x-ray and gamma ray imaging such as imaging small body organs, for molecular imaging of small animals, especially nude and scidd mice, and as an essential surgical tool. In security applications it can be used to scan people for radioactive material. In military it can be used in the field in a different portable embodiment to search and image radioactive material and/or objects that contain radioactive materials. In NDI and NDE it can be used as a portable tool to image objects for defects, cracks, etc. It may also be used to detect corrosion and cracks on aircraft and other vehicles.
BACKGROUND OF INVENTIONSingle detector non-imaging probes have been in use for some time to detect and locate the sentinel lymph node(s) during breast cancer surgery. These probes have proven to be useful to the surgeon in this regard. However, they are limited in use as they do not provide an image, just a crude count rate from a 1 cm2 area detector. Therefore, locating the sentinel node is not very accurate and it does not provide accurate information on the extent of the tumor. Therefore, an imaging probe with an adjustable spatial resolution by removing or exchanging the collimator will achieve significant improvement in sentinel node detecting and locating. It will also enable the imaging probe to be used for other applications such as detecting and locating primary and secondary tumors in the breast tissue and lymph nodes through scintimammography.
Recently breast imaging studies with 99mTc SestaMIBI and 201Tl have demonstrated uptake by sentinel lymph nodes and malignant breast tumors but not by benign masses (except some highly cellular adenomas). Most of the results give sensitivities and specificities of about 90%, and recently equally encouraging results have been reported for 99mTc Methylene Diphosphonate (MDP) with a sensitivity of 92% and a specificity of 95%, even though these studies were carried out with conventional full size gamma-ray cameras which have some inherent limitations for breast imaging especially during surgery:
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- 1. The large size of the gamma camera makes it difficult to position optimally relative to the breast.
- 2. Not usable during surgery due to the large size, low sensitivity and low spatial resolution.
The reported small, compact, handheld solid-state imaging probe is expected to achieve much better performance in all of these categories. It will be especially useful before, during and after surgery to locate the sentinel lymph node(s) using the drainage of the radiopharmaceutical from the tumor site to the sentinel node(s). It may also be used in the scintimammography mode to locate a lesion and its metastatic components, completely remove the cancerous tissue and verify that no cancer is left behind. Also the cancers that are not detectable by conventional mammography such as fibrocystic change and dense breasts especially in young women (≈40% between 40 and 50 year old), lack of calcifications (about 50% of all preinvasive cancers) and mammographically occult breast cancers. These, in many cases, will be identifiable by the reported system, because the method of detection relies on isotope uptake in the tumor, not on subtle differences in its radiodensity.
The instruments described here are called SenProbe (
A small, compact, portable solid state imaging probe with a built in high sensitivity tiny gamma camera as shown in
A high sensitivity SenPROBE with excellent spatial resolution is required to make this new method viable. The SenPROBE will provide the following enhancements:
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- 1. High energy resolution, 5% to 10% at 122 keV, 3 to 5 mm thick CdZnTe pixel detectors with pixel pitch of about 2 to 3 mm with about 5×5 cm2 active area will be developed.
- 2. Gamma rays between about 50 and 250 keV will be detected with high quantum efficiency.
- 3. Imaging probe size about 5×5×1 cm3 without collimator. Collimator thickness will be about 0.5 to 1 cm if needed. Most applications can be carried out at touching distance, <1 cm to the source, and will not need a collimator. Distances larger than about 1 cm will need coarse or fine collimation depending on distance.
- 4. An integrated circuit is developed specifically for this applications. The noise is expected to be lower and energy resolution higher. The new chip will enable compact and portable design of the imaging probe.
- 5. A single button will control the imaging. Each pressing will reset the image and acquire a new one. Or separate reset and image buttons can be used. Any image can be stored using the Store button on the monitor.
- 6. Excellent spatial resolution, about 1 mm with collimator. Without a collimator image acquisition will be fast but the image will be slightly blurred depending on the distance to the source.
- 7. A radio transmission system can be placed inside the SenProbe and/or the MicroImager. It can be inside the handle or attached to the instrument to relay information to the LCD monitor and eliminate connecting cable completely.
- 8. More then one detectors inside the instrument or two or more SenProbes and MicroImagers can be used to produce three dimensional and/or stereoscopic imaging.
The invention described comprises a medical imaging system for imaging a portion of a living organism. The living organism is treated with a radiopharmaceutical, which emits gamma ray photons. The detector contains two-dimensional array of pixels. It has an entrance aperture, which is external to the living organism and placed close or at touching distance to the portion of the living organism. The emitted gamma ray photons enter into the detector array and may scatter within the detector array.
A multi channel readout system is connected to the detector pixels. A processor is connected to the multi-channel readout system. A monitor is coupled to the processor. The monitor displays an image of the number of photons coming from the portion of the living organism imaged.
Most of the incident gamma ray photons undergo photoelectric absorption in the detector. The system includes a collimator to restrict the angle of the gamma rays incident on the detector system to determine the direction of the photons. The collimator is therefore helps to produce the image of the incident gamma rays.
The radiopharmaceuticals may contain a radio isotope(s) such as thallium-201, technetium-99m, iodine-123, iodine-131, and fluorine-18. The medical imaging system contains many pixels fabricated on the detector material. The detector(s) used can be silicon pad detectors, silicon pixel detectors, double sided silicon microstrip detectors, double sided silicon strip detectors, CdZnTe pixel detectors and CdTe pixel detectors. The detector material may be selected from Silicon, HPGe, BGO, CdWo4, CsF, Nal(TI), CsI(Na), CsI(TI), CdTe, CdZnTe, HgI2, GaAs, and PbI2.
The pixels may be fabricated on both sides of the detector. The pixels may be fabricated as ohmic and/or blocking type electrodes. The pixel pitch may vary from 0.01 to 10 mm. The medical imaging system may have several layers of detector planes.
The detector has a handle for holding the medical imaging system. The medical imaging system is also made compact and portable.
For this application, we plan to use detectors 24, 30, 82 with a thickness of 3 to 5 mm, which is well suited for photons from 99mTc, the radionuclide most commonly used in radiopharmaceuticals. The pixel sizes will be selected from 1 to 3 mm. One side of these detectors have two-dimensional array of pixels (electrodes) normally as anodes and the other side is a single plane electrode, normally used as cathode. Another embodiment would be to make the pixels as cathodes and the backside electrode to function as anode. A bias voltage is applied between the anode and cathode where the electrons generated by an x-ray or a gamma ray are collected at the anode(s). In the main embodiment the two dimensional pixelated side faces the printed circuit board.
The energy resolution of our current CdZnTe pixel detectors (
We plan to optimize the pixel size for the reported portable gamma camera (SenProbe). The CdZnTe pixel array 30 with 3×3 mm2 pixel size shown in
The RENA (Readout Electronics for Nuclear Application) chip 22 and 83 is used for these instruments. This chip has low noise and excellent energy resolution. Lower noise versions with more functionality and features can also be designed and used.
RENA chip 22 and 83 is a 32-channel signal processor IC for use with solid-state radiation detectors and other devices that produce a charge output. Each channel consists of an analog and a digital section; in addition, there are two isolation analog channels, one along each side of the analog channel group. RENA is self-triggered, with several different trigger modes that allow flexible operation. The flexibility is further enhanced by having eight digitally controlled shaper peaking times; this allows the chip to accommodate different charge collection times of various detectors. Up to sixteen RENA chips can be daisy-chained together with common buses for analog outputs, digital address outputs and some control signals; in this configuration the chips can be read out as a single ASIC with up to 512 channels.
A block diagram of a single analog channel and some digital section of an improved integrated circuit is shown in
The SenPROBE (
Up to four circuit boards can be deployed. The first one will house the detectors 24 on the bottom side and the RENA chips 22 on the top side so that the pixels can be connected through short, low capacitance leads to achieve high energy resolution. The second circuit board will house the data interface to the data acquisition board and will be housed in the handle 25 of the probe. The third board will contain the power supplies, the data acquisition, and display interface circuits and it will be housed inside the color LCD display monitor 13. The fourth circuit board will have the onboard microprocessor and the display driver. The entire electronics will be run by high-power rechargeable Ni-MH or Li ion or similar batteries.
The display 16 will be made from a large size color LCD. The display will show a contour plot of the received image 17 (counts per pixel) from the detector in real time. The operator will decide how long to acquire the image. The display will also have a ruler on all sides 16 corresponding to the active dimensions of the detector. On the sides of the SenProbe 10 and 20 there will be a corresponding ruler. This will allow the surgeon to make marks on the tissue corresponding to the center and size of the tumor.
In another embodiment called MicroImager 70 and 80 in
MicroImager 70 contains a display 71 an several buttons to control the instrument. These buttons can be START/STOP button 73, IMAGE button 74 and a RESET button 75. A drawing of the MicroImager showing a display of a tumor 72 is shown in
The MicroImager (
We plan to build three circuit boards (
The display 86 will be made from a large size LCD with dimensions as close to the active area as allowed by the real estate available on the top surface of the MicroImager. The display will show a contour plot 87 of the received signal (counts per pixel) from the detector in real time. The operator then can decide how long to acquire the image. The display will also have a ruler on all sides corresponding to the active dimensions of the detector. On the sides of the MicroImager 80 there will be a corresponding ruler. This will allow the surgeon to make marks on the tissue corresponding to the center and size of the tumor. After the MicroImager is removed the lines can be joined to mark the location of the lesion so that it can be easily located and removed.
The position resolution will depend on the collimator 81 used. The best position resolution achievable is expected to be about 1 mm.
There are three function buttons, START/STOP 73, IMAGE 74, and RESET 75. START/STOP will turn the detector on and off, IMAGE button will initiate the image acquisition and the RESET button will clear the image. The can be other buttons if needed. An image memory will store about 32 or more images, which can be downloaded later to a computer if needed.
Claims
1. A portable imaging device comprising:
- a first position sensitive detector mounted to a first side of the device, wherein the first detector receives a plurality of particles from a portion of an organism emitting particles that produce a plurality of signals;
- a first readout circuit mounted to the first detector that receives and processes the plurality of signals;
- a processor coupled to the readout circuit to process at least a portion of the plurality of signals to produce an image; and
- a screen mounted on a second side of the device different from the first side of the device, wherein the screen is coupled to the processor, and wherein the screen displays the image of the portion of the organism.
2. The portable imaging device of claim 1, further comprising a first collimator coupled to the first detector.
3. The portable imaging device of claim 2, further comprising a second collimator that is interchangeable with the first collimator.
4. The portable imaging device of claim 1, further comprising a control button mounted on a side of the device that controls the image displayed on the screen.
5. The portable imaging device of claim 1, further comprising a circuit board coupled to the integrated circuit and the processor that provides power to the portable imaging device.
6. The portable imaging device of claim 1, wherein the first detector comprises an active area of at most 5×5 cm2.
7. The portable imaging device of claim 1, wherein the first detector comprises an active area of at most 3×3 cm2.
8. The portable imaging device of claim 1, wherein the first detector is selected from the group consisting of silicon pad detectors, silicon pixel detectors, double sided silicon microstrip detectors, double sided silicon strip detectors, CdZnTe pixel detectors, and CdTe pixel detectors.
9. The portable imaging device of claim 1, wherein the first detector comprises a material selected from the group consisting of Silicon, HPGe, BGO, CdWo4, CsF, Nal(TI), CsI(Na), CsI(TI), CdTe, CdZnTe, HgI2, GaAs, and PbI2.
10. The portable imaging device of claim 1, wherein the first detector comprises ohmic electrodes.
11. The portable imaging device of claim 1, wherein the first detector comprises blocking type electrodes.
12. The portable imaging device of claim 1, further comprising a second position sensitive detector layered with the first detector.
13. The portable imaging device of claim 1, wherein the first readout circuit composes a circuit board that is mounted within the device.
14. The portable imaging device of claim 1, further comprising a pair of comparators that filters the plurality of signals by selecting an energy window around a nuclear line.
15. The portable imaging device of claim 1, wherein the screen has an image area that is as large as an active area of the first detector.
16. The portable imaging device of claim 1, wherein the screen comprises a ruler corresponding to the active dimensions of the first detector.
17. The portable imaging device of claim 1, further comprising a memory that stores the image.
18. The portable imaging device of claim 1, further comprising a second readout circuit daisy-chained with the first readout circuit.
19. The portable imaging device of claim 1, wherein the readout circuit comprises an analog readout section and a digital readout section.
20. The portable imaging device of claim 1, wherein the second side of the device is opposite from the first side of the device.
21. A method of producing an imaging device, comprising:
- mounting a first position sensitive detector array to a first side of an imaging device, wherein the first detector receives a plurality of particles from a portion of an object emitting particles that produce a plurality of signals;
- mounting a first readout circuit to the first detector wherein the first readout circuit receives and processes the signals produced by the first detector;
- coupling a processor to the circuit to convert the processed signals to an image; and
- mounting a screen on a second side of the device different from the first side of the device, wherein the screen is coupled to the processor, and wherein the screen displays the image of the portion of the object.
22. The method of claim 21, further comprising mounting a first collimator coupled to the first detector.
23. The method of claim 22, further comprising mounting a second collimator that is interchangeable with the first collimator.
24. The method of claim 21, further comprising providing a control button mounted on a side of the device that controls the image displayed on the screen.
25. The method of claim 21, further comprising mounting a circuit board to the integrated circuit and the processor, wherein the circuit board provides power to the portable imaging device.
26. The method of claim 21, wherein the first detector comprises an active area of at most 5×5 cm2.
27. The method of claim 21, wherein the first detector comprises an active area of at most 3×3 cm2.
28. The method of claim 21, wherein the first detector is selected from the group consisting of silicon pad detectors, silicon pixel detectors, double sided silicon microstrip detectors, double sided silicon strip detectors, CdZnTe pixel detectors, and CdTe pixel detectors.
29. The method of claim 21, wherein the first detector comprises a material selected from the group consisting of Silicon, HPGe, BGO, CdWo4, CsF, Nal(TI), CsI(Na), CsI(TI), CdTe, CdZnTe, HgI2, GaAs, and PbI2.
30. The method of claim 21, wherein the first detector comprises ohmic electrodes.
31. The method of claim 21, wherein the first detector comprises blocking type electrodes.
32. The method of claim 21, further comprising layering a second position sensitive detector with the first detector.
33. The method of claim 21, wherein the first readout circuit composes a circuit board that is mounted within the device.
34. The method of claim 21, further comprising providing a pair of comparators that filters the plurality of signals by selecting an energy window around a nuclear line.
35. The method of claim 21, wherein the screen has an image area that is as large as an active area of the first detector.
36. The method of claim 21, wherein the screen comprises a ruler corresponding to the active dimensions of the first detector.
37. The method of claim 21, further comprising coupling a memory to the processor that stores the image.
38. The method of claim 21, further comprising daisy-chaining a second readout circuit with the first readout circuit.
39. The method of claim 21, wherein the readout circuit comprises an analog readout section and a digital readout section.
40. The method of claim 21, wherein the second side of the device is opposite from the first side of the device.
Type: Application
Filed: Feb 21, 2011
Publication Date: Aug 25, 2011
Inventor: Tumay O. Tumer (Beverly Hills, CA)
Application Number: 13/031,463
International Classification: A61B 6/00 (20060101);