Hybrid Imaging Developed to Simplify Nuclear Medicine and Address Clinicians' Needs

New imaging time-of-flight (TOF) positron emission tomography (PET) technology measures the actual time difference between the detection of coincident gamma rays for more accurate localization, producing a higher quality image with shorter imaging times and allowing for lower tracer dose amounts in patients, as well as increased diagnostic confidence.

At this year's Society of Nuclear Medicine (SNM) annual meeting, held in June 2010 in Salt Lake City, UT, USA, Philips Healthcare (Best, The Netherlands) presented its product range in the field of nuclear medicine. The company displayed solutions designed to increase diagnostic accuracy, improve patient comfort, augment physician confidence, simplify clinical workflow, and lower lifecycle costs.

"With increased demand for improved quality of care and rising healthcare costs, it's more important than ever before to help our customers diagnose and treat patients effectively and efficiently,” said Jay Mazelsky, senior vice president and general manager, computed tomography and nuclear medicine, for Philips Healthcare. "Philips is determined to simplify nuclear medicine by using clinician insights to drive innovation and deliver solutions that unlock the clinical potential of hybrid imaging and help to improve patient care.”

Philips' range of nuclear medicine technologies addresses the needs of physicians and their oncology, cardiac, neurology, or orthopedic patients. This year at SNM, Philips presented new features to the BrightView XCT, including new Full Iterative Technology (FIT), which makes the BrightView XCT the first and only single photon emission tomography/computed tomography (SPECT/CT) system with both iterative SPECT and CT reconstruction capabilities. The new low-dose, flat-panel CT iterative reconstruction improves localization through better uniformity and less noise leading to improvements in soft tissue image quality for applications such as orthopedic cases. Available in more than 135 sites worldwide, BrightView XCT addresses the need to keep patient dose low without sacrificing image quality and accuracy.

Already outfitted with the Philips Astonish advanced reconstruction algorithm, the new FIT further enhances the only CT platform designed specifically for nuclear medicine. BrightView XCT Astonish image reconstruction technology provides significant spatial resolution improvement in cardiac SPECT studies compared to SPECT studies using filtered back projection. With FIT and Astonish, BrightView XCT helps enable low patient X-ray dose levels, high-resolution localization, and high-quality attenuation correction with the potential for fewer artifacts and shorter exam times. Philips reported new clinical evidence that Philips' Astonish algorithms for nuclear cardiology help clinicians improve their diagnostic accuracy and increase their diagnostic confidence.

The BrightView XCT has a wide-open gantry and large bore that contributes to a positive patient experience. It offers the first flat panel X-ray detector to be used for CT imaging in nuclear medicine. Moreover, it is so compact that it fits in the same size room as a small SPECT camera. Concurrent technology makes image acquisition quicker, makes it easier to work with and evaluate images, and makes it possible to conduct multi-isotope evaluations simultaneously.

Philips innovations are expanding the clinical utility of PET/CT in oncology, allowing healthcare providers the ability to consolidate radiation oncology procedures, increase the potential for greater accuracy, and improve scheduling. The Gemini Big Bore system, now in over 35 sites worldwide, offers excellent lesion detection ability for diagnosis and staging. Gemini TF Big Bore is the world's first big bore PET/CT system combining advanced Gemini TF PET image quality with Brilliance CT big bore performance.

Philips will provide updates on clinical studies being conducted using Philips' investigational whole body PET/MR imaging systems at the University of Geneva (Switzerland) and Mount Sinai Medical Center (New York, NY, USA). These studies extend both to oncologic and to cardiovascular applications of the technology and are designed to take advantage of the soft-tissue contrast capabilities of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

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