Patent Number: 056688458
Section: description

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The details of embodiments of the present invention will now be explained in reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 shows the schematic construction of an X-ray medical diagnosis CT apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. This CT apparatus is a so-called "third generation" type CT apparatus in which the measurement can be made with a measurement start position made variable. Also, this CT apparatus is a so-called X-ray CT apparatus which uses X-rays. In the X-ray CT apparatus shown in FIG. 1, an operator inputs various instructions and measurement conditions necessary for measurement by use of a control console 7 prior to the measurement. An image processing unit 6 reads the contents of inputted instructions and measurement conditions to sent desired control signals to components, such as a high voltage generator for X-rays, a bed unit (both not shown) and a scanner control unit 8, which form the CT apparatus. After the communication of the control signals between those components, the image processing unit 6 takes a measurement start instruction waiting condition at the point of time when the preparations for measurement are completed. In this waiting condition, the measurement is started in a preliminarily inputted measurement mode by an operator's measurement start instruction. Next, explanation will be made of the structure of a scanner. As apparent from FIG. 1, the internal structure of the scanner is such that a detector 4 is provided at a position opposite to an X-ray tube 1 and X-rays emitted from the X-ray tube 1 are narrowed in a slice direction (or scanner depth direction) by a collimator 2 to form an X-ray beam 3. In the detector 4, X-rays transmitted through an object such as a patient are converted into an electric signal. The electric signal is amplified by a detecting circuit unit 5. The amplified signal is converted from an analog signal into a digital signal which is in turn sent as projection data to the image processing unit 6. In the image processing unit 6, the projection data is subjected to a predetermined operation processing by an operating unit (not shown) to make image reconstruction. The reconstructed cross-sectional image is displayed on a display device of the control console 7. In a general type of scanner, restrictions are imposed on the rotation angle of the scanner since it is difficult to freely move a high voltage cable for supplying a high voltage to an X-ray tube. However, the scanner in the embodiment of the present invention has a structure in which its measurement start position can be changed. More particularly, the scanner of the present embodiment is constructed such that it can make a rotation equal to or more than 1.25 revolutions to ensure a measurement angle which is 360.degree.+90.degree. at the minimum. The angle 360.degree. corresponds to the range of measurement or scan and the angle 90.degree. corresponds to a rotation region for acceleration and deceleration. In the case where a scanner using a slip ring mechanism is used as another scanner to which the present invention can be applied, the slip ring transmitsupplies various control signals therethrough. The slip ring also transmits supply powers for the collimator 2, the detector 4 and the detecting circuit unit 5 and a high voltage power for the X-ray tube 1 from a scanner base to a scanner rotating base. Further, a measurement signal of the detector 4 is transmitted through the slip ring from the scanner rotating base to the scanner base. Such a construction enables a measurement by the continuous rotation of the scanner. In the general type of scanner, measurement start points are provided at two positions adjacent to each other by 90.degree., in order to achieve the start of measurement from at least the direction of axis of ordinate (or vertical direction) and the direction of axis of abscissa (or horizontal direction). Namely, any one of a set of positions 91 and 92, a set of positions 92 and 93, a set of positions 93 and 94 and a set of positions 94 and 91 shown in FIG. 1 are the two measurement start points which are adjacent to each other by 90.degree.. On other hand, in the slip ring scanner, no restriction is imposed on the rotation angle and therefore a plurality of measurement start points can be set arbitrarily. In the present embodiment, four measurement start points are provided at the 90.degree. intervals of the vertical axis and the horizontal axis. Next, brief explanation will be made in conjunction with the case where a plurality of measurement start points are judged while the measurement from any measurement start angle is variably controlled. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, a disk-like position information plate 9 is fixed on the scanner rotating base. A measurement start point is marked (with the form of a hole or a signal) at one point on the circumference of the position information plate 9. The position information plate 9 rotates as the scanner rotates. Position sensors 91 to 94 for reading the mark of the measurement start point (or measurement start mark) are fixed on the scanner base side which is not rotated. When the measurement start mark on the position information plate 9 passes one of the position sensors 91 to 94, a detection signal from the position sensor is delivered to the scanner control unit 8 which makes the whole control of a measurement operation of the scanner. The scanner control unit 8 determines the position of one of the sensors 91 to 94 which delivers the detection signal. Thus, the scanner control unit 8 can control the timing of a measurement start position while confirming the rotation angle of the scanner. In the case where the position information plate 9 is marked beforehand with encoded signals at positions corresponding to the four angle positions, the judgement of scanner angle information is possible by reading a position information signal from only a position sensor (for example, 91) fixed at one location. Also, there may be realized various control methods including a method in which a rotating encoder sensor is directly attached on the scanner rotating base side so that angle information is judged directly from an encoder signal of the rotating encoder sensor to control a measurement start position. The image processing unit 6 and the scanner control unit 8 can be realized by a general computer having a control program incorporated therein. FIGS. 2A, 2B, 2C and 2D are views showing the conditions of the scanner at the time of measurement start at the four rotation angles attained by the above-mentioned mechanism which is capable of making the variable control of a measurement start position. FIG. 2A shows the condition of measurement start from a 0.degree. position at which the X-ray tube 1 is positioned just above the object 10. FIG. 2B shows the condition of measurement start from a 90.degree. position at which the X-ray tube 1 is positioned on the right side of the object 10. FIG. 2C shows the condition of measurement start from a 180.degree. position at which the X-ray tube 1 is positioned just under the object 10. FIG. 2D shows the condition of measurement start from a 270.degree. position at which the X-ray tube 1 is positioned on the left side of the object 10. The measurement is made with the four measurement start positions (two positions in the general type of CT scanner) freely interchanged. The flow of the operation in the above-mentioned CT apparatus and the details of a method for correction of obtained measurement data will now be explained by use of FIGS. 3 to 5. FIG. 3 shows a flow for realizing a measurement method in which the measurement is made in such a manner that a difference in attenuation between the vertical and horizontal axis directions of an object to be measured is judged to perform the measurement with a measurement start position set to an axis direction having a small attenuation in the object. In this measurement method, an operator inputs various settings and measurement conditions necessary for measurement by the control console unit 7 (step 31). In this case, the orientation and size of an object 10 to be measured, imaging conditions for respective parts to be measured, and so forth are protocol-inputted or inputted in one collective set. Examples of the orientation of the object include a supine position (in which the object lies face up or lies on its back), a prone position (in which the object lies face downward or lies on its belly) and a sideway position (in which the object faces sideways, turns sideways or lies on its side). The orientation of the object is inputted since there is a need to display the orientation of a cross-sectional image to be ultimately displayed. In step 32, a relationship in the quantity of attenuation in the object 10 is judged. In general, the cross section of a human body as an object in a medical diagnosis CT apparatus is circular or elliptic. Therefore, if a part to be imaged is a head, the vertical axis direction assumes the major axis direction of the ellipse in state in which the head lies face up. If the part to be imaged is a body, the horizontal axis direction assumes the major axis direction of the ellipse in a state in which the body lies on its back. In the case where the object has an elliptic cross section, the attenuation is large in the major axis direction of the ellipse. In the present embodiment, therefore, an imaging start position is determined in accordance with an imaging part to be measured. More particularly, the object information and measurement conditions inputted beforehand by the operator are read by the image processing unit 6. Thereby, the image processing unit 6 can determine, through the above-mentioned procedure of judgement, which one of the vertical and horizontal axis directions of each object has a smaller attenuation. The image processing unit 8 has a memory (not shown) in which information indicating a relationship in the quantity of attenuation for the kind and direction of each object is stored. The judgement of attenuation is made by referring to the information in the memory in accordance with the inputted protocol information. For example, in the case where the object is the head of a human and lies face up, the 90.degree. direction or 270.degree. direction (FIG. 2B or 2D) is a direction having a smaller attenuation. In the case where the object is the body of a human and lies on his or her back, the 0.degree. direction or 180.degree. direction (FIG. 2A or 2C) is a direction having a smaller attenuation. Such information is stored in the memory beforehand. It is of course that information indicating directions with smaller attenuation for other parts and in the case of the sideway position of the object is also stored in the memory. The direction of smaller attenuation may also be determined from the actual data measured by scanning on the object. Two scanning processes are taken. The first scan (preliminary scanning) is started at any position to measure the attenuation. The direction of smaller attenuation is determined from the actual data of the first scan. The second scan is started at the position of smaller attenuation direction to get the image data of the object. In step 33, it has been determined on the basis of the input protocol information that the part to be measured is a head. In the case of the measurement of the head in a state in which the object normally lies face up or face downward, a measurement mode is set such that an imaging start position is 90.degree. or 270.degree. (step 33). Namely, when a control instruction is issued from the image processing unit 6 to the scanner control unit 8, the scanner control unit 8 waits for the actual measurement start instruction in the state of a measurement mode set through a series of scanner controls with a measurement start position set to the horizontal axis (90.degree. or 270.degree.). On the other hand, in the case of the measurement of the head in a state in which the object normally faces sideways, an imaging start position is set to 0.degree. or 180.degree.. In step 34, it has been determined on the basis of the input protocol information that the part to be measured is a body. In the case of the measurement of the body in a state in which the object normally lies on its back or on its belly, a measurement mode is set such that an imaging start position is 0.degree. or 180.degree. (step 34). When a control instruction for this measurement mode is issued from the image processing unit 6 to the scanner control unit 8, the scanner control unit 8 waits for the actual measurement start instruction in the state of a measurement mode set through a series of scanner controls with a measurement start position set to the vertical axis (0.degree. or 180.degree.). On the other hand, in the case of the measurement of the belly in a state in which the object normally turns sideways or lies on its side, an imaging start position is set to 90.degree. or 270.degree.. In step 35, the scanner control unit 8 starts the measurement by recognizing the input of the measurement start instruction by the operator from the control console 7. Since the subsequent operation is the same as that having already been explained in the first part of the explanation concerning the present embodiment, the repeated explanation thereof will be omitted. FIGS. 4 and 5 show the flow of an operation performed in another embodiment of a CT apparatus. In the present embodiment, a relationship between the attenuation of measurement data in axial direction and the measurement start position is judged. In the case where the measurement is started from an axial direction having a large attenuation in an object, a correction processing is performed in such a manner that the correction angle region A (see FIG. 6) to be subjected to a correction data processing for bowel gas correction is made narrower than a normally set width. In step 41, various settings and measurement conditions necessary for measurement are protocol-inputted by an operator from the control console unit 7. The details of the contents of settings in the protocol input are similar to those in step 31 having already been explained in conjunction with FIG. 3. In step 42, a preparatory operation for measurement is performed. Namely, the image processing unit 6 reads the protocol input information to sent desired control signals to components, such as a high voltage generator for X-rays, a bed unit and the scanner control unit 8, which form the CT apparatus. After the communication of the control signals between those components, a series of operations are performed so that a measurement start instruction waiting condition is taken at the point of time when the preparations for measurement are completed. In the case where the measurement operation is performed while making a clockwise or right-handed rotation of a scanner and the scanner is of the general type, the measurement start instruction waiting condition means a condition in which the scanner stands by at an angle position on the minus side of the measurement start position of 0.degree. in FIG. 1. In the case where the scanner has a slip ring structure and a continuous rotation has already been started, the measurement start instruction waiting condition means a condition in which there is ready to start the measurement at any time by generating X-rays. In step 43, a controller (not shown) of the image processing unit 6 continually confirms whether or not an operation such as measurement start button or instruction key input by the operator is made. In the case where a measurement instruction is not issued, step 43 is repeated until the operation such as measurement start button or instruction key input by the operator is confirmed. In the case where the confirmation is obtained, the flow proceeds to a measuring operation which will be explained in the following. In step 44, the scanner control unit 8 judges whether or not there reaches a measurement start position which the scanner first passes after the turn to a measuring operation condition. The judgement is made by confirming a signal from the position sensors (91 to 94 in FIG. 1). This operation is continued until the measurement start position is confirmed. In step 45, a measurement start signal is sent to the controller of the image processing unit 6 and other control units so that the measurement is started at the point of time when the first confirmed position sensor signal is received. Also, at this point of time, a signal indicating the present measurement start position is sent to the image processing unit 6 and recorded therein. The correspondence of the measurement start position to the measurement data sent to the image processing unit 6 is possible by, for example, a method in which a table associated with the addresses of storage positions of a memory is prepared or a method in which position information is recorded in the first field of measurement data. In step 46, the generation of X-rays and the taking-in of measurement data are started to perform the actual measurement operation. In step 47, the controller of the image processing unit 6 judges whether or not a series of measurements are completed. Simultaneously with the completion, the flow goes to step 48. The series of measurements correspond to one of various measurement modes including a mode in which the measurement for only one slice is involved, a mode in which the continuous measurement for plural slices is involved and a mode in which an operation processing is performed after the completion of the whole of a series of measurements. The designation of this measurement mode is inputted by the operator when the imaging conditions are set in step 41. The following explanation will be made assuming a measurement mode in which an operation processing is performed for each one slice measurement, an image is displayed and a wait is thereafter taken for an instruction for start of the next slice measurement. Step 48 is a processing which is performed in the usual CT apparatus, for example, a pre-processing such as the LOG conversion processing of measurement data or the correction of various sensitivities. In step 49, the judgement of a relationship in quantity of attenuation in the object is made from the conditions inputted in step 41. Since the judging method is similar to that in step 32 shown in FIG. 3, the explanation thereof will be omitted. However, processings in and after step 50 will be explained assuming that the determination of an imaging part of the object based on the conditions set in step 41 results in that the object is in a supine position. In step 50 taken in the case where the determination of "head" measurement is made, the measurement start position recorded in step 45 is confirmed. As a result, the flow goes to step 51 when the measurement start position is 0.degree. or 180.degree. and to step 52 when the measurement start position is 90.degree. or 270.degree.. In step 51, the part to be measured is a head in a supine position and the vertical direction (or major axis direction) having a large attenuation coincides with the scanner measurement start position (0.degree. or 180.degree.). Therefore, the correction is performed with the range of the correction region A (see FIG. 6) for bowel gas correction being made narrower than a usual standard width. In step 52, on the other hand, the bowel gas correction is performed in the usual standard width since the vertical direction having the large attenuation in the head or part to be measured does not coincide with the scanner measurement start position (90.degree. or 270.degree.). In step 53, a usual image reconstruction processing in the CT apparatus is performed. In step 54, a reconstructed cross-sectional image is displayed on the image display device of the control console 7. In step 55 taken when the determination of "belly" measurement is made, the recorded measurement start position is confirmed. Then, the flow goes to step 56 when the measurement start position is 0.degree. or 180.degree. and to step 57 when the measurement start position is 90.degree. or 270.degree.. In step 56, the bowel gas correction is performed in the usual standard width since an axial direction having a large attenuation in the belly or part to be measured (or the horizontal direction) does not coincide with the scanner measurement start position (0.degree. or 180.degree.). On the other hand, in step 57, the correction is performed with the range of the correction region A (see FIG. 6) for bowel gas correction made narrower than the usual standard width since the axial direction having the large attenuation in the belly or part to be measured (or the horizontal direction) coincides with the scanner measurement start position (00.degree. or 270.degree.). Steps 58 and 59 are the same as steps 53 and 54 mentioned above. In step 60, the judgement is made of whether or not the series of measurement operations inputted in step 41 are completed. In the case of the completion, the judgement is made of whether or not there is the next measurement. When the result of judgement is negative, the processing is completed. When the result of judgement is affirmative, the flow returns to step 43 in order to perform the operations in steps 43 to 60. For the purpose of simplifying the judgement of the attenuation in the axial direction of an object, the foregoing embodiments have been explained in conjunction with the case where the axial directions are two directions which include the vertical axis direction and the horizontal axis direction. However, the axial directions are not limited to the two directions of the vertical and horizontal axes and can include any other directions from the gist of the present invention. In this case, the setting of a measurement start position is possible to a plurality of positions. In the foregoing embodiments, the judgement of the quantity of attenuation in the axial direction has been made referring to measurement conditions inputted by the control console 7. However, another judging method is also possible. For example, in the example shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the view projection data of measurement data at the measurement start position and a position shifted from the measurement start position by 90.degree. are stored in the memory and can be read therefrom later on. Therefore, the determination of which one of the axial directions has a large attenuation can be made with a higher precision by comparing the average value or total sum of projection data in a central channel (ch) width corresponding to the measurement start position and that corresponding to the 90.degree. shifted position. In the foregoing embodiments, the bowel gas correction has been made in reference to the measurement data correcting method disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 5,580,219. However, it is needless to say that a variety of other methods for weighted conversion of data in measurement start/end position region are applicable in the present invention. For example, even in the case where the object of weighting is limited to only the A.degree. region near the measurement start or end position, the motion artifacts can be reduced. In this case, data in a region in A.degree. from the measurement start position 0.degree. is converted into, for example, data weighted in proportion to the positions of 360.degree. data and A.degree. data. In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, or more especially, in steps 44 and 45, the scanner control unit 8 confirms the arrival of the scanner to a measurement start point which the scanner first passes subsequently to the turn to a measurement operating condition after the operator's measurement start instruction. The confirmation is made on the basis of a signal from the position sensors (91 to 94 in FIG. 1). The measurement is started at the point of time when the first confirmed position sensor signal is received. With such an operation, a plurality of measurement start positions corresponding to the kinds of measurement times can be provided even in a scanner based on a control method in which the measurement is started from a fixed position. Thereby, it becomes possible to maintain the concurrency of the operator's measurement start operation and the actual measurement start irrespective of a difference in length between measurement times associated with various measurement modes and to minimize the variations in delay time. Therefore, it is not necessary that the operator performs the operation while taking the various measurement modes and a time until the start of measurement into consideration. According to the control method of the disclosed embodiment, a plurality of measurement start positions of a scanner (four positions in the shown embodiment) are provided corresponding to a plurality of measurement time modes of the scanner and the measurement is started from a measurement start position which the scanner first reaches after the lapse of a time from the judgement of a measurement start instruction until the completion of preparations for measurement. More particularly, the present embodiment assumes that a CT apparatus capable of selecting, for example, three kinds of measurement modes of 1 second, 2 seconds and 4 seconds is realized by a scanner which can perform the measurement from four fixed measurement start positions of 0.degree. (360.degree.), 90.degree., 180.degree. and 270.degree.. In general, a preparatory time for measurement start is common to all measurement time modes and a difference in measurement time between the modes corresponds to a difference in rotation speed of the scanner. Therefore, with the provision of the plurality of measurement start positions (four positions in the present embodiment) corresponding to the measurement time modes, the region of movement of the scanner in a time from the operator's measurement start designation to the completion of preparations for measurement will extend over, for example, four measurement start positions in the case of the shorter (or 1-second) time mode and two measurement start positions in the case of the longer (or 4-second) time mode. Accordingly, with the construction in which the plurality of measurement start positions are provided corresponding to the measurement time modes and the measurement is started from a measurement start point which the scanner first passes after the turn to a measurement operating condition, it is possible to uniformalize a time from the designation of the start of measurement until the arrival to the next measurement start position after the completion of preparations for measurement. Thereby, even in a scanner which cannot freely perform a measurement start operation or a scanner based on a control method in which the measurement is started from a fixed position, it becomes possible to provide a high-quality cross-sectional image with a high efficiency of measurement even in the case of an imaging which uses a contrast agent or the measurement of an object which is subject to frequent motions. The setting of the plurality of measurement start positions is similar to that explained in conjunction with FIG. 1. Namely, the position sensors 91 to 94 for reading the measurement start mark of the position information plate 9 are fixed on the scanner base side which is not rotated. When the measurement start mark on the position information plate 9 passes one of the position sensors 91 to 94, a detection signal from the position sensor is delivered to the scanner control unit 8 which makes the whole control of the measurement operation of the scanner. The scanner control unit 8 determines which one of the sensors 91 to 94 delivers the detection signal. Thus, the scanner control unit 8 can control the timing of a measurement start position while confirming the rotation angle of the scanner. In the case where the position information plate 9 is marked beforehand with encoded signals at positions corresponding to four angle positions, the judgement of scanner angle information is possible by reading a position information signal from only a position sensor fixed at one location. In the above embodiment, the measurement time has been explained in conjunction with the case where the combination of doubly increasing measurement times is taken by way of example. However, the present invention is also applicable to a CT apparatus which may involve many various measurement times. In this case, the concurrency of the operator's measurement start operation and the actual measurement start can be improved by setting an increased number of measurement start positions in an increased number of directions. As apparent from the foregoing explanation, the present invention makes it possible to suppress, for various objects, the increase of background noises necessarily associated with motion artifact correction while maintaining the effect of motion artifact correction. As a technically excellent effect, therefore, a CT apparatus is offered which can provide a high-quality cross-sectional image necessary for accurate diagnosis of a patient in the capacity of a medical diagnosis apparatus. According to the present invention, it is possible to maintain the concurrency of the operator's measurement start operation and the actual measurement start irrespective of a difference in length between measurement times in various measurement modes and to minimize the variations in delay time. As a technically excellent effect, a medical diagnosis CT apparatus is offered which has no need to use the apparatus while taking various measurement modes and a time until the start of measurement into consideration, has a high efficiency of measurement and can provide a high-quality cross-sectional image even in the case of an imaging which uses a contrast agent or the measurement of an object which is subject to frequent motions.