Patent ID: 7688940

Claim:
A system for imaging a patient's breast with x-rays comprising: a frame supporting an x-ray source, said source selectively emitting a collimated x-ray beam, and said frame being mounted for selectively rotating the beam between vertical and non-vertical directions; an enclosure supported by the frame and spaced from the x-ray source along a length of the frame, said enclosure having an upper surface to which said collimated beam is directed; a compression paddle supported by said frame and movable along the length of the frame to compress a patient's breast toward the upper surface of the enclosure; a flat panel digital image receptor mounted under said upper surface of the enclosure, said image receptor receiving said collimated x-ray beam and having a proximal edge spaced from said frame; an anti-scatter grid having a first position in which the grid is supported in said enclosure and conforms to a plane that is between said upper surface of the enclosure and a plane of the image receptor; said anti-scatter grid, when in said first position, being in the path of the collimated x-ray beam received by the image receptor; said anti-scatter grid being mounted for selective withdrawal form said first position to thereby be out of the path of the collimated x-ray beam received by the image receptor; and a control selectively placing said system in a first breast x-ray imaging mode in which the anti-scatter grid is in said first position or a second breast x-ray imaging mode in which said anti-scatter grid is withdrawn from said first imaging position and is out of the path of the collimated x-ray beam received by the image receptor.