Patent ID: 7072436

Claim:
A volumetric computed tomography (VCT) system capable of producing, in one single rotation, x-ray measurements for reconstructing a plurality of image slices through a portion of a subject positioned along an axis of rotation, said VCT system comprising: an x-ray source array having a plurality of source positions for producing x-rays emanating from each of said source positions, said source positions being displaced one from the other in the direction of the axis of rotation, wherein said x-ray source array is a two-dimensional scanned anode x-ray source; a collimator to partly limit the divergence of the x-rays emanating from each of the source positions, wherein the divergence is partly limited in the direction of the axis of rotation; an array of x-ray detector elements for acquiring x-ray measurements for each of said source positions separately, said array containing elements that are spaced one from the other in the direction of the axis of rotation; and means for rotating said source array and said detector array about said axis of rotation, wherein each source position illuminates multiple x-ray detector elements in the direction of the axis of rotation, wherein said x-ray source array and said array of x-ray detector elements have comparable extent in the direction of the axis of rotation.