CT Scanner Range Includes Upgrade to 16- and 32-Slice Configurations

Siemens Healthcare (Erlangen, Germany), presented its two new 16- and 32-slice configurations at the 2013 Journées Françaises de Radiologie (JFR) French Radiology Convention, held in Paris (France), October 18-22.

For all four configurations, Siemens provides eCockpit technology package, which makes the Somatom Perspective not only easier and more cost-efficient to use, but also stretches the systems’ service life. The well-established eMode function, for example, helps reduce equipment downtime by more than 20%. With the Somatom Perspective, Siemens Healthcare extends its product range in the lower and medium-priced segments.

The two additional configurations allow users to customize a CT system individually to fit their specific clinical needs. For example, the 16-slice configuration is suitable above all for routine scans in oncology and for imaging the chest, head, lungs, or abdomen. However, the model is also useful in pain therapy to safeguard that analgesics are delivered to the right place during surgery. The 32-slice configuration provides more detailed imaging for bone fractures, examinations of the inner ear, or vascular applications, whereas the 64-slice scanner has extremely fast image acquisition. With specifically short scanning times, the 128-slice configuration is particularly suitable for diagnostics in pediatrics and cardiology.

The Somatom Perspective also makes it possible to expand the range of scan types at a clinic or surgery at a later time: The two new models can be upgraded to 64- or 128-slice configurations whenever desired.

This investment is further secured through high-end technologies such as Safire (Sinogram Affirmed Iterative Reconstruction) that will now be available for the first time in 16- and 32-slice CT scanners. The iterative image reconstruction technology reduces radiation dose by as much as 60%, or improve image quality correspondingly. In the future, it will also be possible to acquire single-source, dual-energy images with any Somatom Perspective model. With this new advanced system, the same region of the body is scanned twice in succession at two different tube voltages, i.e., energy levels, using half the radiation dose each time. Fusing the two image datasets provides data not only about pure morphology but also additional details about the composition of the scanned tissue. For example, metal artifacts, caused by implants such as artificial hip joints, can be discerned more clearly from tissue and bone structures.

All four models will include the eCockpit technology package, which adds two new features to the established eMode function and further reduces the costs of operating a CT scanner: eStart extends X-ray tube life by gently preheating the tubes before a scan. eSleep puts the gantry into sleep mode if unused for a longer period, thus helping to save electricity. eMode, which was introduced in 2011, has since become firmly established among users. Over 90% of scans conducted with one of the Somatom Perspective CT scanners installed worldwide and connected to the Siemens Remote Service are acquired using this function. eMode automatically optimizes scanning parameters making equipment use more efficient and lowering maintenance costs. Analyses show that in combination with a service contract system downtime, which is already very low, can be reduced by an additional 20% or more per year when eMode is in constant use.

The new Somatom Perspective configurations are available from May 2014.

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