Ultra-High Resolution CT Doubles Image Sharpness

The world’s first ultra-high resolution computerized tomography system (UHR CT) can resolve anatomy as small as 150 microns.

The Canon Medical Systems (Ōtawara, Japan) Aquilion Precision UHR CT features a resolution never before seen in CT imaging, with a small focal spot tube at 0.4 x 0.5 mm, and a routine 1024 x 1024 reconstruction matrix. The ultra-high resolution capabilities are combined with 1,792 efficient detector channels in 160 rows that are only 0.25 mm thick, major improvements in scintillator quantum efficiency, new digital acquisition system (DAS) and detector circuitry components, and improved tube, gantry, and reconstruction technologies.

New UHR CT applications include novel data sets that take advantage of artificial intelligence (AI) and computational learning techniques and image texture analysis algorithms in order to improve staging, treatment, and earlier tumor detection. A model-based iterative reconstruction (MBIR) computational algorithm reduces noise while maintaining resolution. On the patient side, precision technology provides a two-step slide mechanism and an ultra-high rigid couch with a precision reinforced drive mechanism.

“In order to deliver Ultra-High Resolution CT into clinical practice, it required a complete re-engineering of the detector manufacturing process,” said Dominic Smith, senior director of the CT, PET/CT, and MR Business Units. “The Aquilion Precision represents not only a breakthrough in imaging technology, but a breakthrough for health care providers who can potentially use the increased amount of accurate data from this system to further research artificial intelligence and computational learning techniques.”