From the January 2011 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine


The company says the technology cuts dose by up to 75 percent, when compared against not having any dose-reduction software.

News of the FDA clearance came the week before the technology was shown at the Radiological Society of North America’s annual meeting at the end of November.
“Christmas came early for Toshiba from the FDA,” says Joe Cooper, director of Toshiba’s CT business unit.
But even as AIDR-based systems start rolling out, next generation technologies can already be glimpsed on the horizon. Only a few months ago, at RSNA, GE Healthcare unveiled its new model-based iterative reconstruction technology called Veo. This technology, whose processing hardware is housed in a hefty black box, is thought to be an even more powerful noise-canceling technique.

“This is taking it to a different stratosphere,” says Nilesh Shah, global marketing officer for the company’s CT business. Veo is currently available in Europe and pending FDA’s OK in the United States.

Of course, not all dose-reduction technology is based on advanced algorithms. Siemens Healthcare, which has developed its own dose-cutting software, IRIS (iterative reconstruction in image space), is also creating software that can help operators by suggesting settings to lower dose. The technology, part of the Fast Care platform, will be available on the company’s Somatom Definition AS scanners in April 2011 and the Somatom Definition Flash scanners in June 2011, said Jakub Machon, Siemens’ product marketing manager for CT in an e-mail to DOTmed News.

The industry is also looking to some cooperative initiatives. Most manufacturers are currently in the process of incorporating additional safety features into their CT systems, as part of trade group Medical Imaging & Technology Alliance’s CT Dose Check Initiative outlined last year. Among the additions is a new alert setting, which will notify operators when recommended dose levels are exceeded.

Such radiation dose safeguards will be added to all CTs, regardless of the brand name on the scanner. “I think what really is encouraging is the commitment of the industry as a whole, putting the competitive pieces aside, to building as many safety features into our scanners as we can and working together with all the stakeholders to do what’s necessary to help,” says Ken Denison, global CT dose leader for GE.

Looking beyond technology
Even though technology plays a major role in lowering CT dose, vendors and end-users recognize much of the responsibility lies with medical professionals – radiation physicists, radiologists, equipment operators and even the referring physicians. “It’s not just what features we manufacturers put into the machine,” says Hitachi’s Silverman. “There are a lot of stakeholders here with lowering dose.”

January 2011 Magazine

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