Patent ID: 9138206
Filing Date: 2015-09-22
Classification: A61B

Abstract:
1. In a mammography apparatus comprising a radiation detector comprising a detector surface, an x-ray source that emits an x-ray beam onto said detector surface from a plurality of different directions, thereby producing a plurality of different x-ray projections, said radiation detector comprising exterior detector edges that surround a central area of said detector surface, at which said x-ray projections overlap, and a compression plate disposed above said detector surface and operable to move in a compression direction toward said detector surface in order to compress a breast between said compression plate and said detector surface, the improvement of a tissue extraction device comprising: a biopsy needle adapted to extract tissue from said breast; a needle mount in which said biopsy needle is received and held; an alignment unit situated at one of said exterior edges of said radiation detector, said alignment unit comprising an arm that is moveable parallel to said compression direction to a selected height above said detector surface and beneath said compression plate; and a connection unit including a semi-circular member attached to said arm and a second member connected to said semi-circular member and extending parallel to said compression direction, said needle mount being connected to said semi-circular member via said second member, wherein said second member and said needle mount are selectively positionable along said semi-circular connection unit at a plurality of different positions that define a plane at said selected height, with said biopsy needle held in said mount and inserted into said breast to a selected depth in said plane in said breast, wherein said needle mount is moveable parallel to said compression direction along said second member, and wherein said semi-circular member includes a radius that maintains said semi-circular member, said second member, and said needle mount outside of said central area in which said x-ray projections overlap.