1. A subject table for a mammography apparatus, comprising:
a table body having a slot extending completely therethrough and adapted to receive an X-ray film cassette;
a locking mechanism disposed in said slot and adapted to interact with an X-ray film cassette in said slot;
said locking mechanism comprising a first detent and a second detent, at least one of said first and second detents being spring-loaded to urge said first and second detents tightly against narrow sides of an X-ray film cassette in said slot, and a first arm spring-loaded in a longitudinal direction of said first arm and having an end carrying said first detent, said first arm being displaceable along said longitudinal direction of said first arm, and said second detent being displaceable perpendicularly to said longitudinal direction of said first arm, and a second arm, spring-loaded in a longitudinal direction of said second arm, to which said second detent is attached, said first and second arms being axially aligned, and said first arm having a free end opposite the end at which said first detent is carried and said second arm having a free end opposite said end at which said second detent is carried; and
a first gear wheel rotatable around a first shaft and a second gear wheel rotatable around a second shaft, said first and second gear wheels being disposed in a common plane and meshing with each other, said first gear wheel rotatably and eccentrically engaging said free end of said first arm and said second gear wheel rotatably engaging said free end of said second arm to respectively spring-tension said first and second arms along said respective longitudinal directions.
2. A subject table as claimed in claim 1 wherein said slot has a bottom, and wherein said locking mechanism is disposed below said bottom of said slot with only said detents projecting above said bottom of said slot.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1-16. (canceled)
17. An MRI system for evaluating an aneurysm in vivo, comprising: at least one implantable RF resonator configured and sized to reside in an intracranial aneurysm sac in a patient, wherein the at least one RF resonator has a resonant frequency corresponding to an operating frequency associated with magnetic field strength of an MRI scanner system; a body coil in communication with an RF excitation source associated with the MRI scanner system, the body coil disposed on the patient the body coil being configured to inductively couple with the at least one RF resonator to transmit RF excitation pulses comprising low flip angle pulses, from the RF excitation source inside of and proximate the at least one RF resonator; and a surface coil in communication with the MRI scanner system and the at least one RF resonator, wherein, in operation, the at least one RF resonator picks up local MR signal data and cooperates with the surface coil to amplify local signal data from the RF resonator.
18. An embolic vascular occlusion device, comprising: a microcoil configured and sized for implantation in an aneurysm sac; and at least one MEMS pressure sensor held by the microcoil.
19. A method of obtaining image data to guide filling an aneurysm sac with embolic material, comprising: obtaining MRI signal data from an internal implantable RF resonator disposed proximate an aneurysm sac; and filling the sac with a selected embolic material using the obtained MRI signal data.
20. A method according to claim 19, wherein the obtaining step is carried out in substantially real time during the filling step so that the sac can be filled to a desired level without unduly over or under filling the sac space.
21. A method of obtaining image data to guide filling an aneurysm sac with embolic material, comprising: obtaining MRI signal data from an intra-body RF antenna disposed proximate an aneurysm sac; and filling the sac with a selected embolic material using the obtained MRI signal data.
22. A method according to claim 21, further comprising implanting an RF resonator in the aneurysm sac.
23. A method according to claim 22, wherein the obtaining step is carried out using the RF antenna and the RF resonator during the filling step.
24. A method according to claim 21, wherein the filling step comprises at least one of the following: introducing embolic liquid into the sac; and introducing at least one coil into the sac.
25. A method according to claim 22, wherein the intra-body antenna is a guidewire or catheter that is spaced apart from the RF resonator, and wherein the RF resonator is non-active during implantation.
26. A method of monitoring the status of an aneurysm, comprising: obtaining MRI signal data from an internal implanted RF resonator disposed in an aneurysm sac to provide images of the aneurysm sac with sufficient detail to allow a clinician to visualize in the MRI image, the presence or absence of at least one of the following: thrombosis, scarring, recanalization, anatomical or structural changes in the sac and blood flow into the sac.
27. A method of using MRI signal data to guide placement of embolic material in an aneurysm sac, comprising: introducing a catheter holding a detachable RF resonator coil into a patient; and obtaining MRI signal data in substantially real-time from the internal RF resonator coil proximate an aneurysm sac in the patient.
28. A method according to claim 27, further comprising detaching the RF resonator coil from the catheter and implanting the RF resonator coil in the aneurysm sac.
29. A method according to claim 28, wherein the obtaining step is carried out before the detaching step.
30. A method according to claim 28, wherein the obtaining step is carried out before and after the detaching step.
31. A method according to claim 28, wherein the obtaining step is carried out after the detaching step.
32. A method of using MRI signal data to guide placement of embolic material in an aneurysm sac, comprising: obtaining MRI signal data in substantially real-time from an RF antenna proximate an aneurysm sac in the patient; and introducing embolic material into the aneurysm sac based on images generated from the obtaining step.
33. A method according to claim 32, wherein the introducing step comprises implanting an RF resonator coil into the aneurysm sac.
34. A method according to claim 32, wherein the introducing step comprises introducing liquid embolic material into the aneurysm sac.