Neck x-ray protective shield

DETAILED DESCRIPTION I claim: 1.
A protective neck shield unit for blocking of frontal chest X-rays applied to personnel in the vicinity of x-ray equipment comprising a flexible sheet-like shield of a material opaque to X-rays, said shield being a rectangular member having a constant width and depth corresponding to the neck portion of personnel, means for holding shield in a circular configuration to define an encircling collar member for totally encompassing the front and side areas of the neck and with said front portion of the collar being spaced outwardly from the neck, said collar member having a lower edge adapted to rest on the chest and shoulder of the patient to support the collar member and extending upwardly therefrom to totally encompass the front and sides of the neck whereby the body portion in the total neck area susceptible to damage from chest X-rays are totally protected.
2.
The shield unit of claim 1, including a foam pad, said shield being embedded within said foam pad with said foam pad extending outwardly from the upper and bottom edges thereof, said foam pad defining deflectable portions whereby the shield can be located between the lower jaw and chest of a patient.




Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a neck x-ray protective shield unit for protecting the various body structure of the neck area during frontal exposure of the body and x-rays.
X-ray treatments are widely employed for diagnosis and or curative treatment of patients.
Although the level of x-ray of the patient may not present a significant danger to the patient in many instances, certain body structures are particularly susceptible to x-ray and the like and protective shields have been provided to restrict the unnecessary exposure of the body of the patient as well as personal administering the x-ray treatment.
Various apron type devices have been suggested for example.
Although the aprons and general front coverage members have been widely employed, they generally extend only to the neck portion to primarily cover the body portion