CT scanner line extended
The Somatom Perspective family of CT scanners that are particularly economical has two new members, the 16- and 32-slice configurations. These new models make numerous high-end technologies available to a broader clientele for the first time with an additional option to upgrade the systems later to the established 64- and 128-slice configurations. For all four configurations, the company now offers the innovative eCockpit technology package, which makes the Somatom Perspective not only easier and more cost-efficient to use, but also lengthens the systems’service life.
The well-established eMode function, for example, helps reduce equipment downtime by more than 20 percent. With the Somatom Perspective, Siemens Healthcare expands its product range in the lower and mediumpriced segments. The two additional configurations make it possible to tailor a CT system individually to fit particular clinical needs. For example, the 16-slice configuration is suitable above all for routine scans in oncology and for imaging the head, lungs, abdomen, or chest. However, the model is also useful in pain therapy to ensure 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 remarkably fast image acquisition. With particularly short scanning times, the 128-slice configuration is especially suitable for diagnostics in cardiology and pediatrics. Technologies such as Safire (Sinogram Affirmed Iterative Reconstruction) are now available in the segment of 16- and 32-slice CT scanners. The iterative image reconstruction method enables to reduce radiation dose by as much as 60 percent, or improve image quality correspondingly.
In future it will also be possible to acquire single source Dual Energy images with any Somatom Perspective model. With this innovation, 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. Merging the two image datasets provides information not only about pure morphology, but also additional details about the composition of the scanned tissue. For example, metal artifacts
