New CT Scanner Patent
Friday, June 20th, 2008
The United States Patent Office has issued a patent to Xoran Technologies Inc of Ann Arbor for a CT Scanner that is meant to reduce unnecessary radiation exposure for patients who need focused CT scans.
This version of a CT extremity scanner scans only individual limbs and is smaller and more specific in the way it is fitted to cradle and scan a desired extremity.
The device is particularly useful for scans from different vantage points on joints or extremities like knees, ankles and arms, according to the inventors.
An X-ray source and X-ray scanner mounted opposite one another rotate within an outer ring. By moving along an axis parallel to a table that supports the patient’s limb, the system produces a scan of an individual extremity.
The accessibility of the testing method could reduce hospital referrals, keeping more CT scans in-house for doctors, the inventors say. It may also increase the use of CT scans on extremities in cases in which the test may not have been otherwise considered.
The patent application listed the inventors as Predrag Sukovic, Birmingham, Neal Clinthorne, Ann Arbor and Nathaniel Bair, Ann Arbor.