Adaptive CT Scanner Launched by Siemens
The new SOMATOM Definition AS, an adaptive CT scanner, manufactured by Siemens Healthcare received marketing clearance (pdf) from the Food and Drug Administration. The state-of-the-art CT system offers unique characteristics that provide superior imaging power with a simplified tool that meet a variety of clinical needs in different specialties.
One of the unique features of the new CT system is the availability of the Adaptive Dose Shield technology. This tool successfully reduces the amount of radiation exposure by adapting dose protection. The system actively blocks unnecessary dosing dynamically both before and after spiral scanning. As such, patients are only exposed to radiation during actual scanning.
Another key feature of the SOMATOM Definition AS is the integration of the Adaptive 4D Spiral Mode. This feature allows functional imaging of whole organs to be completed; these depict blood flow across time within an organ. Dynamic information about blood flow activity can be collected across an area of 27 cm. Thus, the entire brain can be imaged at once.
The imaging equipment is available in a range of sizes and with different specifications to meet the distinct needs of a given institution. One patient population that particularly benefits are those who are undergoing bariatric surgery, who were often to heavy to undergo scanning with traditional CT systems.
One of the first facilities across the U.S. to install the new system is the Medical University of South Carolina. The company already installed the Siemens’s SOMATOM Definition Dual Source MUSC, which was installed last Fall.
June 11, 2008 Related topics: Product Approval & Certification, New Technology & Innovation, Imaging, Diagnostic