Patent ID: 7732774

Claim:
A breast imager for efficient detection of lesions located close to the chest wall of a patient comprising: a table for receiving a patient in the prone position, said table including a downward extending open tube for receiving the breast of the patient; one or more rings of gamma detection modules surrounding the breast in said tube; each of said gamma detection modules including a scintillator sensor adjacent said open tube; an edge plane and a dead edge including a sharp drop in detection efficiency at said edge plane of said detection modules; a slant imaging light guide extending from said scintillator sensor, said slant imaging light guide includes a slant angle between 5 and 45 degrees, said slant imaging light guide enables a side shift of image, said shift of image enabling elimination of said dead edge on one side of said detection modules; a photo multiplier extending from said light guide; and a readout connected to said photo multiplier; a data acquisition system for accepting imaging data from said readouts of said gamma detection modules.