Gerhard Linke

Peripheral angiography digital image acquisition using rapid continuous sweeps of a moving gantry

We are investigating the technical feasibility of a novel acquisition scheme for peripheral angiography that consists of taking images from a gantry that continuously sweeps back-and-forth while the contrast is flowing. The clinical advantage of such a multiple-pass system is that images at each position are spread over a longer time interval, increasing the chance of imaging contrast filled arteries and thus decreasing the need for retakes. Image acquisition during rapid sweeping is technically feasible. The duration of x-ray pulses is short enough to reduce the extent of motion blurring to less than one pixel, using mA and kV parameters available on our angiography system. Contrast and mask image pair superpositioning is excellent, permitting DSA processing.