Patent Number: 
Section: description

Referring to the accompanying drawings in which like reference numbers indicate like elements, FIG. 1 illustrates a radiation protection system 10 that covers a patient 12 on an x-ray table 14 and separates an operating region 16 from a C-arm x-ray emitter 18. The radiation protection system 10 includes a radiation-shielding wall 20, a radiation-shielding screen 22 on the x-ray table, and a radiation-shielding flexible interface 24 connecting the screen and x-ray table 14 with the wall 20. The wall 20 is constructed from well-known radiation-blocking materials and is preferably transparent, thereby permitting visual contact between doctors (not shown) in the operating region 16 and the patient 12. An opening 26 is provided in the wall 20 so that it can be moved over the x-ray table 14, and the wall 20 is preferably supported by retractable casters 28. Extending the casters 28 permits the wall 20 to be rolled into place, and retracting the casters sets the wall in place. The top of the wall 30 is preferably higher than the C-arm 32 at its highest extension. The radiation-shielding screen 22 is movably attached to the x-ray table 14. The screen 22 has a plurality of screen supports 34 attached to the x-ray table 14 and a radiation-resistant partition 36 attached to the supports 34. When extended, the screen 22 covers the x-ray table 14 in the operating region 16 and the partition 36 is interposed between the patient 12 and the doctors. The flexible interface 24 has flexible joints 38 and a flexible, radiation-resistant skirt 40. The flexible joints 38 connect the wall 20 with the x-ray table 14 and hold the skirt 40. The skirt 40 joins the wall 20 to the screen 22 and covers the opening 26 in the wall. The flexible joints 38 and skirt 40 can extend, thereby allowing movement of the x-ray table 14 during the medical procedure without moving the wall 20. Transferring the patient 12 to and from the x-ray table 14 is facilitated by detaching the flexible interface 24 from the wall 20 and moving the wall, and by retracting the screen 22 to the foot 42 of the x-ray table 14. During fluoroscopic procedures, it is preferable for the screen 22 to extend over the patient 12 from the foot 42 to the patient""s mid abdomen region 44. The partition 36 may be formed from a flexible sheet of radiation-resistant material, permitting the screen 22 to fold like a curtain as the screen supports 34 slide along the table. It will be evident to those skilled in the art that other movable devices can be substituted for the sliding mechanism, including a screen that can rotate like an awning (not shown). Alternatively, the screen could be constructed from rigid panels or segments. Also, screen segments may be hingedly attached like an accordion or rollably attached like a roll-top desk or a pool cover, or conformably attached like a Venetian blind. The screen 22 preferably includes at least one instrument port 46 through which doctors can operate on the patient with surgical equipment (not shown), including threading a catheter through the port 46 and inserting the catheter into the patient 12. For fluoroscopic procedures in which a catheter is inserted into the patient 12, it is preferable to have access to the patient through ports 46 over the patient""s groin region near the femoral vessels. Each access port 46 can be covered by a radiation-shielding cloak 48 that is attached to the screen 22 around catheters. The cloaks 48 help protect the doctors operating around the x-ray table 14 from radiation scattering through their respective ports 46. The screen 22 may also have control ports 50, allowing connections to controls on the x-ray table (not shown), and the x-ray table 14 may also have a user interface 52 external to or coterminous with the screen 22. Access to the x-ray table""s controls allows the doctors to adjust the position of the table throughout the procedure. It may also permit the doctors to control the position and orientation of the C-arm 32 and catheterization system monitors 54. As with other surgical equipment, the wall 20, screen 22, interface 24, and cloaks 48 can be sterilized. Alternatively or in combination removing the screen 22 from the x-ray table 14 and the interface 24 from the wall 20 to sterilize the equipment, the partition 36 and the skirt 40 may be covered by disposable, sterile pads (not shown). With the radiation protection system 10 set in place, doctors and other medical personnel in the operating region 16 are shielded from the x-ray emitter 18 and x-ray scattering during radiologic procedures. The radiation-shielding wall 20 separates the operating region 16 from the x-ray emitter 18 to protect the doctors from exposure to most primary radiation from the x-ray emitter 18 and from secondary radiation that could be scattered from the C-arm 32. The radiation-shielding screen 22 is interposed between the doctors and the patient 12 to protect against most x-ray scattering from the patient 12 and the x-ray table 14. The radiation-shielding flexible interface 24 covers the opening 26 in the wall 20 and joins the wall with the x-ray table 14 and the screen 22 to protect-against most radiation leaking into the operating region 16 when the x-ray table is moved. FIG. 2 illustrates the un assembled sections of a second embodiment of a radiation protection system 10. As in the first embodiment, the radiation protection system 10 includes a radiation-shielding screen 22 and a radiation-shielding flexible interface 24. In the second embodiment, the radiation protection system 10 has a radiation-shielding cubicle 100, and the flexible interface 24 is mounted circumferentially around The x-ray table 14. As illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4, the cubicle 100 encloses the operating region 16 when the system 10 is assembled. The entire cubicle 100 can be constructed from well known radiation-blocking materials and it can be constructed to allow for repeated disassembly and reassembly for portability and storage. A radiation-shielding cubicle wall 102 is interposed between the doctors and the C-arm x-ray emitter 18. The cubicle wall 102 is structurally and finctionally similar to the radiation-shielding wall 20 in the first embodiment. Within the cubicle 100, the operating region 16 preferably provides adequate space for two doctors to operate on the patient 12. A half-wall 104 separates the operating region form the x-ray table 14, and the cubicle 100 extends over and around the x-ray table 14 adjacent to The operation region 16. As with the wall 20 in the first embodiment, the cubicle 100 is preferably supported by casters 28 that can be retracted when the cubicle is in place over the x-ray table 14. The cubicle 100 also has at least one door 106. The cubicle 100 may contain access panels 108 for transferring equipment between the operating region 16 and the x-ray laboratory. The cubicle may also have tubing ports 110 for running catheters, tubes and other surgical equipment (not shown) from the patient 12 and the x-ray table 14 to other components in the x-ray laboratory. The cubicle may have its own ventilation system to maintain optimal ventilation and sterility, and may include shelves 112 for medical instruments. Shelves 112 in the back of the cubicle 100 can serve as a general staging table and shelves 112 suspended over the x-ray table 14 could serve as platform, allowing quick access to equipment by a doctor or other medical personnel 114. As in the first embodiment, the cubicle 100 may also have monitors 54 to display fluoroscopic and other physiologic images, and the cubicle 100 may include an audio system for optimal communication between the medical personnel 114 and the rest of the laboratory. In the second embodiment, each comer 116 of the flexible interface 24 is attached to the cubicle 100 through the flexible joint 38. As in the first embodiment, the flexible radiation-resistant skirt 40 is held between the joints 38 to cover an opening 118 in the wall 102 and to join the wall 102 with the x-ray table 14 and the screen 22. In the second embodiment, the skirt 40 also circumferentially joins the x-ray table 14 to the cubicle 100. As in the first embodiment, the flexible joints 38 and skirt 40 permit the x-ray table 14 to be moved during the procedure. Extending and retracting the radiation screen 22 is performed in a manner that is similar to the first embodiment, and transferring the patient 12 to and from the x-ray table is also performed a similar manner. In the second embodiment, the flexible interface 24 must be detached around its circumference so that the cubicle 100 can be moved and the screen 22 can be retracted to the foot 42 of the x-ray table 14. The first and second embodiments use the same method for shielding doctors and other medical personnel 114 from the x-ray emitter 18 and x-ray scattering when working in the operating region 16 adjacent to the patient 12 on the x-ray table 14. In particular, doctors are shielded from most x-ray radiation by isolating the operating region from the x-ray emitter with the radiation-shielding wall 20, 102 and the radiation-shielding flexible interface 24, covering the patient with a radiation-shielding screen 22 adjacent to the operating region, and joining the wall and the screen with the flexible interface. The wall 20, 102 and the flexible interface 24 isolate the operating region 16 from the x-ray emitter 18. The flexible interface 24 attaches the x-ray table 14 to the wall 20, 102 through flexible joints 38, 116 and joins the screen 22 to the wall 20, 102 through a flexible radiation-resistant skirt 40. The second embodiment further isolates the operating region 16 with the half-wall 104 adjacent to the x-ray table 14 and uses the skirt 40 to: circumferentially join the x-ray table 14 with the cubicle 100. In view of the foregoing, it will be seen that the several advantages of the invention are achieved and attained. The embodiments were chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the invention and its practical application to thereby enable others skilled in the art to best utilize the invention in various embodiments and with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated. As various modifications could be made in the constructions and methods herein described and illustrated without departing from the scope of the invention, it is intended that all matter contained in the foregoing description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative rather than limiting. For example, the wall 20 in the first embodiment can be curved or hinged to partially surround the operating region 16. As another example, the cubicle 100 can be wider to extend over the foot 42 of the x-ray table 14, thereby enlarging the operating region 16 within the cubicle 100. Thus, the breadth and scope of the present invention should not be limited by any of the above-described exemplary embodiments, but should be defined only in accordance with the following claims appended hereto and their equivalents.