Patent ID: 7330531

Claim:
A method of measuring bone density and imaging a patient's spine comprising: positioning a patient on a support surface; providing an x-ray tube radiation source such that radiation emitted by the source at a first energy and a second energy is transmitted through a region of the patient's spine to be imaged during a first exposure interval at the first energy and during a second exposure interval at the second energy; providing a single charged coupled device (CCD) sensor that detects light generated by a scintillator in response to x-ray radiation from the source during each exposure interval that is transmitted through the region at the first and second energies, the single CCD sensor being aligned with the source by a C-arm; providing a (CCD) controller that is electrically connected to the sensor such that the controller performs readout of charge collected by the CCD after each exposure interval; scanning the spine with the C-arm, source, scintillator and CCD sensor, the C-arm being scanned along a longitudinal axis of the spine of the patient; generating an electronic representation of a spatial intensity pattern from the light received by the CCD sensor at the first energy level and at the second energy level during the scanning of the spine; determining the density of bone within the region of the spine from the electronic representation; and forming an image of the spine from the electronic representation.