Toshiba majors on triple-play CT
Medical Physics Web
The latest advances in CT technology are as much about minimizing X-ray dose and speeding up exam times as they are about improvements to image quality. That "triple-play" mantra appears central to the thinking behind the 320-slice AquilionONE CT scanner debuted by Toshiba America Medical Systems (Tustin, CA) at the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) annual meeting in Chicago, IL, this week.
The works-in-progress CT machine can scan an entire organ – the heart or the brain, for example - in one rotation because it covers up to 16 cm of anatomy using 320 ultra-high-resolution 0.5 mm detector elements.
This capability (dubbed dynamic volume CT) is advantageous on two levels. First, it reduces motion artefacts significantly, eliminating the need to reconstruct slices from multiple points in time. What's more, Toshiba says AquilionONE technology involves considerably less radiation exposure - when compared against conventional CT coronary angiography, for example - owing to the elimination of overlapping CT slices.
All told, 320-slice CT has the potential to revolutionize several areas of diagnostic imaging. Patients with suspected stroke, for example, can wait several hours for diagnosis and treatment with current CT and MR technology. With the help of a contrast injection, 320-slice CT could provide a definitive diagnosis after a single exam, with clinicians able to "see contrast flowing in and out of the brain in 3D".
Equally, patients exhibiting symptoms of heart conditions often have to undergo a time-intensive battery of tests, including an EKG, calcium study, CT angiography, nuclear study and catheterization. The AquilionONE will change all that, claims Toshiba, with "a single comprehensive exam [that] can give physicians all of the information they need to diagnose and treat the patient in less than 20 minutes and with significantly less contrast and radiation dose."
Earlier this week, Toshiba announced that the AquilionONE has received 510(k) clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration. Full commercial launch is scheduled for next summer.
In 2006 and early 2007, AquilionONE beta systems were tested at Fujita Health University and the National Cancer Center in Japan, as well as at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD (see US gets ready for 256-slice CT on medicalphysicsweb).
Other RSNA highlights from Toshiba span MRI, ultrasound and X-ray imaging, including:
• Vantage Titan MR: a developmental open-bore 1.5 T MR system that's claimed to be 18% larger than other 1.5 T systems on the market. Specifications include a 71 cm patient aperture; clinical field-of-view of 55x55x50 cm; and guaranteed homogeneity of 2 ppm over a 50x50x50 cm DSV and a 1.4 m magnet length.
• New 4-D transducers for volume ultrasound imaging: the transducers give physicians the ability to review a volumetric image of a patient after they have left the scan room, providing more time for diagnosis and thorough analysis. The three new devices are the Microconvex transducer (which can image the abdomen and be used for guidance in RF ablation); the Endocavity transducer (provides volume data for transvaginal, obstetric procedures and prostate imaging); and the Linear transducer (to image small parts of the anatomy, including the testes, thyroid and breasts).
• Low-contrast X-ray imaging (510k pending): Toshiba claims the low-contrast capability will enable its Infinix-i large-panel X-ray systems to "achieve better images of all soft tissues, including brain tissue, cerebral ventricles and hepatic visualization".
About the author
Joe McEntee is Editor of medicalphysicsweb.
The latest advances in CT technology are as much about minimizing X-ray dose and speeding up exam times as they are about improvements to image quality. That "triple-play" mantra appears central to the thinking behind the 320-slice AquilionONE CT scanner debuted by Toshiba America Medical Systems (Tustin, CA) at the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) annual meeting in Chicago, IL, this week.
The works-in-progress CT machine can scan an entire organ – the heart or the brain, for example - in one rotation because it covers up to 16 cm of anatomy using 320 ultra-high-resolution 0.5 mm detector elements.
This capability (dubbed dynamic volume CT) is advantageous on two levels. First, it reduces motion artefacts significantly, eliminating the need to reconstruct slices from multiple points in time. What's more, Toshiba says AquilionONE technology involves considerably less radiation exposure - when compared against conventional CT coronary angiography, for example - owing to the elimination of overlapping CT slices.
All told, 320-slice CT has the potential to revolutionize several areas of diagnostic imaging. Patients with suspected stroke, for example, can wait several hours for diagnosis and treatment with current CT and MR technology. With the help of a contrast injection, 320-slice CT could provide a definitive diagnosis after a single exam, with clinicians able to "see contrast flowing in and out of the brain in 3D".
Equally, patients exhibiting symptoms of heart conditions often have to undergo a time-intensive battery of tests, including an EKG, calcium study, CT angiography, nuclear study and catheterization. The AquilionONE will change all that, claims Toshiba, with "a single comprehensive exam [that] can give physicians all of the information they need to diagnose and treat the patient in less than 20 minutes and with significantly less contrast and radiation dose."
Earlier this week, Toshiba announced that the AquilionONE has received 510(k) clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration. Full commercial launch is scheduled for next summer.
In 2006 and early 2007, AquilionONE beta systems were tested at Fujita Health University and the National Cancer Center in Japan, as well as at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD (see US gets ready for 256-slice CT on medicalphysicsweb).
Other RSNA highlights from Toshiba span MRI, ultrasound and X-ray imaging, including:
• Vantage Titan MR: a developmental open-bore 1.5 T MR system that's claimed to be 18% larger than other 1.5 T systems on the market. Specifications include a 71 cm patient aperture; clinical field-of-view of 55x55x50 cm; and guaranteed homogeneity of 2 ppm over a 50x50x50 cm DSV and a 1.4 m magnet length.
• New 4-D transducers for volume ultrasound imaging: the transducers give physicians the ability to review a volumetric image of a patient after they have left the scan room, providing more time for diagnosis and thorough analysis. The three new devices are the Microconvex transducer (which can image the abdomen and be used for guidance in RF ablation); the Endocavity transducer (provides volume data for transvaginal, obstetric procedures and prostate imaging); and the Linear transducer (to image small parts of the anatomy, including the testes, thyroid and breasts).
• Low-contrast X-ray imaging (510k pending): Toshiba claims the low-contrast capability will enable its Infinix-i large-panel X-ray systems to "achieve better images of all soft tissues, including brain tissue, cerebral ventricles and hepatic visualization".
About the author
Joe McEntee is Editor of medicalphysicsweb.
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