Patent ID: 7430272
Filing Date: 2008-09-30
Classification: A61B

Abstract:
1. A tomosynthesis mammography method comprising: immobilizing a patient's breast between compression surfaces that in turn are between a source of x-rays and an x-ray imaging receptor, said source having a focal spot from which it selectively emits x-rays toward the receptor; selectively providing an anti-scatter grid that is retractable so that it can be removed from a space between the source of x-rays and the x-ray imaging receptor; moving each of the source and the receptor to more than two different positions relative to the compression surfaces and the patient's breast while the breast remains immobilized; emitting, at each of said positions, x-rays from the source that pass through the breast and impinge on the receptor; deriving, from the receptor, information related to respective two dimensional projection x-ray images for each of said positions; adjusting the grid relative to the compression surfaces and the breast such that the partitions thereof are focused on the focal spot when the source emits said x-rays in at least one of said positions; and processing the information related to at least some of said projection images of the breast to generate information representative of reconstructed tomosynthesis images that differ from said projection images.