Patent ID: 7551709
Filing Date: 2009-06-23
Classification: A61B,G01N

Abstract:
1. A computer tomography apparatus for examination of an object of interest, the computer tomography apparatus comprising: a detector unit with an x-ray source and a scatter radiation detector; wherein the detector unit is rotatable around a rotational axis extending through an examination area for receiving the object of interest; wherein the x-ray source generates a fan-shaped x-ray beam adapted to penetrate the object of interest in the examination area in a slice plane; wherein the scatter radiation detector is arranged at the detector unit opposite to the x-ray source parallel to the slice plane and out of the slice plane with an offset with respect to the slice plane in a direction parallel to the rotational axis such that the scatter radiation detector is arranged for receiving a scatter radiation scattered from the object of interest; wherein the scatter radiation detector includes a first detector line with a plurality of first detector elements arranged in a line; and wherein the plurality of first detector elements are energy-resolving detector elements, the computer tomography apparatus further comprising: a primary radiation detector, wherein the primary radiation detector includes a second detector line with a plurality of second detector elements arranged at the detector unit opposite to the x-ray source in the slice plane for receiving a primary radiation attenuated by the object of interest, wherein the second detector elements are scintillator cells; and a calculation unit for reconstructing an image from readouts of the primary radiation detector and the scatter radiation detector, wherein (i) the calculation unit, in conjunction with the primary radiation detector, is adapted to measure an attenuation of primary radiation attenuated by the object of interest, and (ii) responsive to determining that a measured attenuation of the primary radiation represents a material with suspicious attenuation values, the calculation unit is further adapted to (ii)(a) coordinate a displacement of the object of interest such that a suspicious region containing the material with suspicious attenuation values in the object of interest is in the examination area, wherein the calculation unit, in conjunction with the scatter radiation detector, is further adapted to (ii)(b) reconstruct a scatter function image and determine on the basis of the scatter function image whether or not the material with suspicious attenuation values is a suspicious medical or industrial material.