A New Design for High Speed Computerized Tomography

Computerized tomographic imaging of the heart has great potential diagnostic value. The difficulty is that heart motion limits the data acquisition time to below 0.1 sec., but standard X-ray sources are not of sufficient intensity or mobility. A simple solution is proposed by using a rotating cathode filament with a fixed large stationary circular anode. In this design, X-ray detectors are placed on a concentric circle interior to the anode. To allow true planar X-ray projections, the detectors near the focal spot which would block the X-ray beam are moved synchronously out of the slice plane. An alternative method is also discussed where the detectors remain stationary and the nearer blocking detectors act as a filter for the X-ray beam.