SBIR-STTR Award

Bedside radiography is one of the few fields of radiology in which there is no commercially viable means of controlling scattered radiation. This is due to the difficulty in aligning the focal spot with an anti-scatter grid. X-ray scatter therefore often reduces the contrast in bedside radiographs by a factor of 10 or more. This problem is exacerbated in digital imaging systems, which are usually more sensitive to scatter than conventional systems. A practical and convenient solution to this problem is proposed. The goal of Phase I will be to build and evaluate the proposed sensor subsystem, and of Phase II to produce a complete preproduction system and to demonstrate its clinical utility. PROPOSED COMMERCIAL APPLICATION: This invention is directly applicable to bedside and mobile radiography.

Bedside radiography is an area of x-ray imaging in which there is no commercially viable means of controlling scattered radiation. This is due to the difficulty in aligning the focal spot with an anti-scatter grid. X-ray scatter therefore often reduces the contrast in bedside radiographs by a factor of 10 or more. This problem is exacerbated in digital imaging systems, which are usually more sensitive to scatter than conventional systems. A practical and convenient solution to this problem is proposed, in which the position and orientation of the anti-scatter grid is determined by a computer. In Phase I we demonstrated a simple means of determining the grid position and orientation relative to the tube head. In Phase II we propose to incorporate this system into a modified complete pre-production mobile radiographic unit and to demonstrate its clinical utility