First installations of GE's 64-slice combined PET/CT system
12 June 2006 GE Healthcare has installed the first of its new Discovery
VCT 64–slice combination positron emission tomography and volume computed
tomography (PET/CT) system. Two systems were simultaneously installed at
Brigham and Women's Hospital, USA and in the molecular imaging research
institution Turku PET Centre in Finland. The Discovery VCT marries through
the Discovery Dimension platform, the high-speed, high-resolution
capabilities of GE’s volumetric CT with the high sensitivity breakthrough
motion imaging capabilities of its industry leading Discovery PET system. By
combining these scanning technologies, the Discovery VCT provides the tools
to enable physicians to more accurately diagnose and identify heart disease
and other conditions, including cancer and neurological disorders. “We are
entering a new era of less invasive cardiology in which PET/CT imaging will
play a major role in managing heart disease,” said Joe Hogan, President and
CEO of GE Healthcare. “Combining the functional capabilities of PET with the
speed and resolution of volume CT will propel cardiac imaging and has the
potential to transform the diagnosis and treatment decisions of heart
disease.” “GE’s Discovery VCT enables me to access essential functional
and anatomical patient data, including perfusion map at rest and peak
cardiac stress, CT angiography and cardiac calcium score, all in one
setting,” said Dr. Marcelo Di Carli, Director of Nuclear Medicine/PET and
Co-Director of Cardiovascular Imaging at Brigham and Women's Hospital. “The
information made available through the Discovery VCT helps me to quickly and
accurately diagnose cardiac patients, helping to eliminate unnecessary
invasive diagnostic procedures while guiding more appropriate treatment
decisions.”
Professor Juhani Knuuti, Director of the Turku PET Centre in Finland,
said, “PET and VCT imaging allows linking the anatomical findings of
coronary arteries with the information of myocardial perfusion, function and
metabolism. That may improve the accuracy of the assessment of myocardial
viability. “The greatest potential of Discovery VCT though, lies in future
applications of molecular imaging, matched with precise anatomical detail in
imaging the coronary arteries we will be pursuing using the tools provided
in Discovery Dimension motion PET imaging capabilities.” The LightSpeed
VCT is able to noninvasively capture images of the heart and coronary
arteries in as few as five heartbeats. In a single rotation, the system
creates 64 sub-millimetric-thin images, totalling 40 millimetres of
anatomical coverage. These images are combined with the Discovery STE
metabolic and physiological PET images to form a three-dimensional fused
view of the patient’s anatomy and corresponding function for the physician
to analyze. “The Discovery VCT, like the LightSpeed VCT, was built for
physicians and molecular imaging researchers based on their clinical needs,
from the ground up,” said Gene Saragnese Vice President and General Manager
of GE Healthcare’s global Molecular Imaging and CT business.
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