Portable medical imaging system

Abstract

A medical imaging system includes a movable station and a gantry. The movable station includes a gantry mount rotatably attached to the gantry. The gantry includes an outer C-arm slidably mounted to and operable to slide relative to the gantry mount, an inner C-arm slidably coupled to the outer C-arm and, an imaging signal transmitter and sensor attached to the C-arms. The two C-arms work together to provide a full 360 degree rotation of the imaging signal transmitter.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A portable medical imaging system comprising:
 a movable station having a plurality of wheels for transport;   a shaft motor;   a vertical shaft slidably coupled to the movable station and adapted to move upwardly and downwardly by the shaft motor, the vertical shaft defining a vertical axis perpendicular to the ground;   a gantry motor;   a gantry mount rotatably coupled to the vertical shaft and adapted to rotate about an axis perpendicular to the vertical axis;   a first C-arm slidably mounted to and operable to slide relative to the gantry mount;   a second C-arm slidably coupled to the first C-arm;   an imaging signal transmitter attached to one of the first and second C-arms, the first and second C-arms together providing a 360 degree rotation of the imaging signal transmitter;   an imaging sensor mounted to one of the first and second C-arms.   
     
     
         2 . The portable medical imaging system of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the movable station defines a proximal side and a distal side;   the most distal one of the wheels is positioned proximally of an imaginary point defined by a center point of the first C-arm.   
     
     
         3 . The portable medical imaging system of  claim 1 , further comprising a plurality of navigation markers for use by a navigation system. 
     
     
         4 . The portable medical imaging system of  claim 3 , further comprising a motion control module adapted to store and recall the position of the movable station via the navigation markers. 
     
     
         5 . The portable medical imaging system of  claim 3 , further comprising a motion control module adapted to position the movable station via the navigation system that uses the plurality of navigation markers. 
     
     
         6 . The portable medical imaging system of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a controller coupled to the plurality of wheels; and   a joystick mounted to the movable station to allow a user to control movement of the wheels under the control of the controller.   
     
     
         7 . The portable medical imaging system of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a controller coupled to the plurality of wheels; and   a handle mounted to the movable station;   a plurality of force sensors for sensing the force applied to the handle.   
     
     
         8 . The portable medical imaging system of  claim 7 , wherein the plurality of wheels includes a plurality of omni-directional wheels and the force sensors allow a user to control movement of the omni-directional wheels under the control of a motion control module. 
     
     
         9 . A portable medical imaging system comprising:
 a movable station including at least four omni-directional wheels attached to and adapted to position the movable station in all three degrees of freedom (X, Y and Wag) about an x-y horizontal plane;   a shaft motor;   a vertical shaft slidably coupled to the movable station and adapted to move upwardly and downwardly by the shaft motor, the vertical shaft defining a vertical axis perpendicular to the horizontal plane;   a gantry motor;   a gantry mount rotatably coupled to the vertical shaft, the gantry mount adapted to rotate about an axis perpendicular to the vertical axis and move upwardly and downwardly with the vertical shaft;   a first C-arm slidably mounted to and operable to slide relative to the gantry mount;   a second C-arm slidably coupled to the first C-arm;   an imaging signal transmitter attached to one of the first and second C-arms, the first and second C-arms together providing a 360 degree rotation of the imaging signal transmitter;   an imaging sensor mounted to one of the first and second C-arms.   
     
     
         10 . The portable medical imaging system of  claim 9 , wherein:
 the movable station defines a proximal side and a distal side;   the most distal one of the wheels is positioned proximally of an imaginary point defined by a center point of the first C-arm.   
     
     
         11 . The portable medical imaging system of  claim 9 , further comprising a plurality of navigation markers for use by a navigation system. 
     
     
         12 . The portable medical imaging system of  claim 11 , further comprising a motion control module adapted to store and recall the position of the movable station via the navigation markers. 
     
     
         13 . The portable medical imaging system of  claim 11 , further comprising a motion control module adapted to position the movable station via the navigation system that uses the plurality of navigation markers. 
     
     
         14 . The portable medical imaging system of  claim 9 , further comprising:
 a controller coupled to the plurality of wheels; and   a joystick mounted to the movable station to allow a user to control movement of the wheels under the control of the controller.   
     
     
         15 . The portable medical imaging system of  claim 9 , further comprising:
 a controller coupled to the plurality of wheels; and   a handle mounted to the movable station;   a plurality of force sensors for sensing the force applied to the handle.   
     
     
         16 . The portable medical imaging system of  claim 9 , wherein:
 the movable station defines a proximal side and a distal side;   the most distal one of the wheels is positioned proximally of an imaginary point defined by a center point of the first C-arm;   the portable medical imaging system further comprising:
 a plurality of navigation markers positioned to be visible to a navigation system; and 
 a motion control module adapted to store and recall the position of the movable station via the navigation markers. 
   
     
     
         17 . The portable medical imaging system of  claim 9 , wherein:
 the movable station defines a proximal side and a distal side;   the most distal one of the wheels is positioned proximally of an imaginary point defined by a center point of the first C-arm;   the portable medical imaging system further comprising:
 a plurality of navigation markers positioned to be visible to a navigation system; and 
 a motion control module adapted to position the movable station via the navigation system based on the plurality of navigation markers. 
   
     
     
         18 . The portable medical imaging system of  claim 9 , wherein:
 the movable station defines a proximal side and a distal side;   the most distal one of the wheels is positioned proximally of an imaginary point defined by a center point of the first C-arm;   the portable medical imaging system further comprising:
 a controller coupled to the plurality of wheels; and 
 a joystick mounted to the movable station to allow a user to control movement of the wheels under the control of the controller. 
   
     
     
         19 . The portable medical imaging system of  claim 9 , wherein:
 the movable station defines a proximal side and a distal side;   the most distal one of the wheels is positioned proximally of an imaginary point defined by a center point of the first C-arm;   the portable medical imaging system further comprising:
 a controller coupled to the plurality of wheels; and 
 a handle mounted to the movable station; 
 a plurality of force sensors for sensing the force applied to the handle. 
   
     
     
         20 . The portable medical imaging system of  claim 19 , wherein the plurality of force sensors include a plurality of strain gauges.