Ultrafast CT Scanner Designed for Optimized Cardiology

A new computed tomography (CT) system freezes the heart’s motion in just one heartbeat without losing image quality.

GE Healthcare (Chalfont St. Giles, UK) presented at Arab Health 2014, a Middle East and Africa healthcare conference, held in Dubai (UAE), in January 2014, its ultra-fast CT scanner, US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)510(k)-pending Revolution CT, which captures a motion-free image of the human heart in just one beat. This cutting-edge technology enables clinicians to noninvasively visualize the human heart more clearly than ever before, and diagnose more patients with erratic or high heartbeats.

According to research published in the British Journal of Radiology, more than 60% of patients referred to cardiac CT were found to have heart rates higher than 60 beats per minute, and some are turned away from being scanned. With Revolution CT, clinicians can clearly see specific areas of the heart that were previously compromised either by a patient’s movement, high heart rate, or a child’s inability to hold his or her breath.

Maher Abouzeid, president and CEO of GE Healthcare for the Middle East and Pakistan, said, “It is estimated that the cost of noncommunicable diseases across the GCC region will reach over USD 36 billion, and the financial burden to diagnose and treat them is expected to increase to USD 68 billion by 2022, if timely measures are not taken […]. In a cost-constrained healthcare environment, clinicians need one definitive test that gives them the diagnostic confidence to make the right treatment decision for their patients. GE Healthcare’s Revolution CT makes this possible through the convergence of spatial resolution, temporal resolution, coverage, and low dose all-in-one, providing uncompromised image quality and clinical capabilities.”

The Revolution CT enables comprehensive cardiac exams with anatomic and functional information in just one heartbeat, even with challenging patients and higher heart rates; rapid, whole-brain stroke assessment at low dose and dynamic liver, pancreas, or kidney oncology workup customized with perfusion and vascular flow analysis.

The Revolution CT has features that include the 16-cm Gemstone Clarity detector for whole organ coverage, excellent spatial resolution at 230 micrometers for visualizing small anatomy, and a 0.28 second gantry designed and tested for up to 0.2 second rotation speed. Combined with SnapShot Freeze motion correction technology, the system delivers 24 millisecond effective temporal resolution for high heart rate imaging without restrictions.

The Revolution CT continues GE’s focus on lower CT doses, with innovations such as the new Gemstone Clarity detector, a 70-kVp scan mode for pediatric use, and ASiR [adaptive statistical iterative reconstruction]-V, GE’s next-generation iterative reconstruction technology. For the patient, the system provides a wider, more comfortable 80-cm bore and a quiet scanning experience with the new Whisper Drive system. Ultra-fast scanning with streamlined workflow makes it a suitable scanner for emergency rooms.

The Revolution system is 510(k)-pending from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and not yet available for sale in the United States. It is also not yet CE market-approved, and is not available for sale in all regions.

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