Importance

Loading Importance Indicators...

Abstract

A method and apparatus are presented here which allow for easy quantitative determination of a position on a patient's skin as seen in CT scanner images. It is based on a device which is a lattice of fiducial rods that can be placed on or near the patient's skin. The images from this device then enable specific points on the skin itself to be readily identified by the operator. It requires a minimum of complication or calculation, and can be used in a variety of procedures which involve placing a probe through the patient's skin to a target, such as a tumor, as seen on the CT scan. The localizaing ladder, as it will be called, can be quickly placed in an aligned fashion on the patient's body, and, depending on several embodiments of the invention, coordinate points on the skin can be determined thereafter by either CT scanner software output, a simple off-line numerical calculation, or, even simpler, counting of the ladder localizer points.

Loading the Abstract Image...

First Claim