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I want YOU to lower the dose!

by Lisa Chamoff, Contributing Reporter | October 22, 2014
From the September 2014 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine


Hafner says Dunlee would provide GE access to new replacement Dunlee tubes, to be measured by an independent third party under supervision by each company, should GE choose to do so.

Meanwhile, Jakub Mochon, director of marketing and operations for Siemens, says the company’s new Vectron tube is a good example of how the tube makes a difference in dose reduction.

“Even the traditional imaging technical aspects like precision and size of the focal spot can have dramatic impact on the dose efficiency of the scanner,” Mochon says.

Low dose on the high end
The new crop of high-end scanners that have hit the market over the last year raise the bar for CT and take dose into account. In April, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration cleared GE’s Revolution CT scanner and Siemens’ SOMATOM Force.

Denison, of GE, says the technology in the Revolution, launched at RSNA last year, allows users to lower dose by 52 to 82 percent while increasing diagnostic imaging quality. In 2008, the company introduced its first iterative reconstruction technology called ASiR.

“This combines the best pieces of both of those,” Denison says. The machine has a .28-second rotation speed and a 160-millimeter detector that allows technicians to capture the entire heart in one rotation. The Revolution is being marketed for patients who have high heart rates or metallic implants, as well as pediatric patients, with the potential to freeze cardiac motion in one heartbeat, reduce metal artifacts, and possibly offer sedation-free CT scanning. “It really allows you to have the options to fit and tailor the acquisition to the particular clinical indication and patient,” Denison says.

Siemens is marketing its SOMATOM Force CT System for challenging cases, specifically children, patients with renal insufficiency, and those who are unable to hold their breath. It’s a high-end system that has already been installed at the Mayo Clinic, Medical University of South Carolina and the National Institutes of Health in Washington, D.C., Mochon says.

Though most of the scanners on the market are fast, patients are still asked to hold their breath, which could be difficult for some, Mochon says. Ensuring that patients follow a technologist’s instructions takes more time than the scan.

“With the Force, we can completely change that situation,” Mochon says. “In this health care environment where everyone is much more focused on the patient experience, we’re achieving much more patient-focused care.”
Mochon says that because of the company’s new Vectron X-ray tube, imaging can be done at much lower kV settings. “With the new tube, many of the adult patients can be imaged at 70 and 80 kV, which was the kV used primarily for pediatric patients,” Mochon says.

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