Siemens Asks: What's Your SPECT'S IQ?
June 15 2008 - 9:00AM
PR Newswire (US)
Intelligent New Symbia Feature Offers Maximum Speed and Utility in
SPECT Scanning* NEW ORLEANS, June 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ --
Taking innovation and efficiency to the next level, Siemens
Healthcare (http://www.siemens.com/healthcare) announces the next
big thing in SPECT imaging: "intelligence." At the 2008 Society of
Nuclear Medicine Annual Meeting, June 14-18, in New Orleans, IQ-
SPECT (Works in Progress) takes center stage as Siemens newest
Symbia(R) feature that enables a comprehensive cardiac evaluation
including perfusion, attenuation correction and calcium scoring in
just five minutes**. (Logo:
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20070904/SIEMENSLOGO ) "This
exciting new Symbia feature is really all about added value and
optimization. IQ-SPECT improves the performance of the Symbia by
allowing it to become organ specific and provide complete cardiac
evaluations with an extremely quick turnaround time," says Michael
Reitermann, chief executive officer, Molecular Imaging, Siemens
Medical Solutions USA, Inc. "And because of its speed and
versatility, IQ-SPECT offers enhanced cardiac image quality and
thus offers physicians more confident diagnostic ability because of
decreased patient movement. We expect this new capability to
provide organ specific, cardiac imaging on general purpose systems,
as it could potentially expand to other organs as well." IQ-SPECT
technology is achieved with SMARTZOOM, a specially designed "smart"
collimator that magnifies the heart while imaging the rest of the
torso under traditional conditions. Typically, cardiac SPECT data
is obtained through keeping the detectors positioned at 90 degrees
and as close to the body as possible, utilizing mechanically
centered detector rotation, where organ specific magnification
cannot be achieved. The flexible mechanics of the Symbia S and T
gantries allow an organ centric detector rotation that can zero-in
on the organ of interest; in this case, the heart. Combining this
organ centric orbit acquisition technique, fast, 3D iterative
reconstruction that is optimized for more confident diagnoses, and
improved patient comfort from a quicker scan, IQ-SPECT will set the
standard for image quality, speed, productivity and throughput.
IQ-SPECT will be available for all new Symbia S and T systems, and
is field upgradeable for any existing Symbia S or T systems that
are already widely available in leading hospitals and imaging
centers across the globe. The new SMARTZOOM feature is seamlessly
integrated into the current Symbia workflows and automation
features, giving users access to the most flexible and versatile
system available today. From a user perspective, IQ-SPECT is fully
automated and can therefore accommodate more patients per day and
meet a variety of patient needs. For example, pediatric patients
can benefit from a lower injected dose in regular acquisition time,
or from less motion and more comfort with a regular dose and
quicker acquisition time. A quicker scan allows for less patient
movement and lowers the probability of retakes. Using traditional
SPECT systems, cardiac perfusion studies average about 15 to 20
minutes, limiting the amount of patients per day. With an
"intelligent" Symbia IQ-SPECT imager, more patients can be scanned
per day in much less time; as little as four minutes per patient
for a full cardiac work- up. Raising the bar even higher in
well-established myocardial perfusion SPECT imaging evaluations is
possible with hybrid Symbia SPECT-CT and IQ-SPECT. The addition of
calcium scoring, extracted from a quick low-dose spiral CT scan
that is also used to obtain attenuation correction information, is
becoming a critical element in the cardiac work-up to screen
patients for coronary artery disease (CAD). It can improve the risk
stratification of patients who are at intermediate to high risk.
Calcium scoring is an independent indicator of prognosis in CAD and
in combination with SPECT, does improve diagnostic confidence.
Adding the 30-second CT to the SPECT study can not only illustrate
any ischemia present in the patient, but also can assess the
buildup of calcium in the coronary arteries. Because many heart
attacks occur in patients without obvious signs or risk factors,
calcium scoring can definitively screen for and detect CAD. The
addition of IQ-SPECT to SPECT-CT studies may lead to new risk
stratification algorithms and work-ups for patients with suspected
CAD. About Siemens Healthcare Siemens Healthcare is one of the
world's largest suppliers to the healthcare industry. The company
is a renowned medical solutions provider with core competence and
innovative strength in diagnostic and therapeutic technologies as
well as in knowledge engineering, including information technology
and system integration. With its laboratory diagnostics
acquisitions, Siemens Healthcare is the first fully integrated
diagnostics company, bringing together imaging and lab diagnostics,
therapy, and healthcare information technology solutions,
supplemented by consulting and support services. Siemens Healthcare
delivers solutions across the entire continuum of care - from
prevention and early detection, to diagnosis, therapy and care.
Additionally, Siemens is the global market leader in innovative
hearing instruments. The company employs more than 49,000 people
worldwide and operates in 130 countries. In the fiscal year 2007
(Sept. 30), Siemens Healthcare reported sales of euro 9.85 billion,
orders of euro 10.27 billion, and group profit of euro 1.32
billion. Further information can be found by visiting
http://www.siemens.com/healthcare. * Works In Progress. The
information about the product is preliminary. The product is under
development and is not commercially available in the United States,
and its future availability cannot be ensured. ** New product
feature based on preliminary internal data. Actual performance
characteristics have not been established.
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20070904/SIEMENSLOGO
http://photoarchive.ap.org/ DATASOURCE: Siemens Healthcare CONTACT:
Tom Schaffner of Siemens Healthcare, +1-610-448-1477, Web site:
http://www.siemens.com/healthcare
Copyright