May 13 2008
GE Healthcare, a global leader in imaging and in dose reduction technologies, has announced U.S. Food + Drug Administration (FDA) clearance of the LightSpeed CT750 HD, the world's first high definition CT scanner. LightSpeed CT750 HD will set the new standard for CT clarity, delivering the vision and the tools to allow clinicians to diagnose quickly and confidently.
At its heart is the first new detector material in 20 years; one that is, quite literally, a gem. GE engineers discovered that, by changing the molecular structure of real garnets, they could develop a scintillator capable of delivering images 100 times faster, with up to 33% greater detail through the body and up to 47% greater detail in the heart. They had unlocked the secret of the proprietary GE Gemstone Detector™, boasting the fastest primary speed in the CT industry, and the driving force of the first of its kind “Gemstone Spectral Imaging” process. Gemstone Spectral Imaging uses up to 2496 views per rotation (a 2.5x increase) to deliver improved spatial resolution and improved image quality across the entire field of view. Dual energy fast kV switching registers energies at least 165 times faster than Dual Source CT at a .33s rotating speed. It offers 128 slices of unique data per rotation and 101 user selectable energy levels for viewing. In short, it brings faster, clearer images into today’s demanding health care environment without sacrificing the element patients and clinicians demand most: radiation dose reduction. Though the laws of physics typically demand an increase in dose for each increase in image quality, GE Healthcare has engineered an exception. CT750 HD improves image quality while reducing dose by up to 50% across the entire body and by as much as 83% for cardiac scans.
In addition to providing fine detail, allowing clinicians to see objects as small as a grain of sand, CT750 HD’s improved spatial resolution allows it to reduce calcium blooming artifacts. Because of this, accurate stenosis quantification is possible. In bench testing, it was able to accurately measure 75% stenosis on a 3mm vessel within 100 microns. It also benefits from improved low contrast detection (LCD), a measure of the amount of contrast needed to image a given object at a given dose. CT750 HD bench tested with a 40% LCD improvement over the previous release.
“This is a game changer,” said Gene Saragnese, Vice President and General Manager of GE Healthcare’s Global CT and Molecular Imaging businesses. “We are delivering the customer-driven future of CT and we couldn’t be prouder of the product their feedback has created. Our customers told us they wanted to look at an image and not just see more but see more detail. The LightSpeed CT750 HD gives them those tools and more, with less dose than ever before, bringing us right to the edge of early health, our vision here at GE Healthcare. It’s now up to us to take this technological leap and move into the future. That’s CT Re-imagined.”