FDA Clears New Siemens SOMATOM Perspective CT Scanner

MALVERN, Pa., June 13, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Siemens Healthcare (NYSE: SI) has announced that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has cleared the SOMATOM® Perspective – an advanced 128-slice computed tomography (CT) scanner engineered to drive efficiency and reduce costs. The SOMATOM Perspective is designed especially for community hospitals, critical access hospitals and outpatient centers, offering the ability to extend the range of available examinations to their communities at reduced radiation dose in a budget-conscious environment. The SOMATOM Perspective is an example of Siemens' approach to delivering innovative solutions that provide maximum value to customers – primary goals of the Healthcare Sector's recently announced Agenda 2013 global initiative.

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As a recognized leader in radiation dose reduction, Siemens has included SAFIRE(1) (Sinogram Affirmed Iterative Reconstruction) – a method for iterative CT image reconstruction based on raw data – as a standard option on the SOMATOM Perspective. SAFIRE helps users reduce dose by up to 60% compared to previous filtered back projection techniques.(1) With a reconstruction speed of up to 15 images per second, SAFIRE can be used in daily clinical routines.

"In our continued pursuit of customer excellence and innovation leadership, Siemens is proud to offer the SOMATOM Perspective CT system, which provides a high level of patient care at an outstanding total cost of ownership for all customers," said Kulin Hemani, U.S. vice president of CT, Siemens Healthcare. "Siemens designed the SOMATOM Perspective with customers' critical needs in mind, offering user-friendly features that expand the clinical portfolio, improve uptime, and help enable efficient utilization as well as significant patient dose savings. These benefits are especially critical for community hospitals, critical access hospitals, and outpatient centers."

Exclusive to the SOMATOM Perspective is its eMode feature, which was created to determine and automatically select system scan parameters so that the CT operates with as low a load as possible, with the goal to minimize wear and increase the scanner's life cycle. More efficient utilization of the CT system partnered with Siemens' robust remote diagnostics and repair means less customer downtime, which may potentially translate to higher availability and potentially better patient care. 

Facilitating its use in daily routines and minimizing exam times, the SOMATOM Perspective boasts Fully Assisting Scanner Technologies (FAST) to help simplify and automate time-consuming, complex procedures, thus supporting clinical personnel at every stage of the CT examination.

The Interleaved Volume Reconstruction (IVR) method uses information from 128 CT slices. In combination with detector coverage of 3.8 cm, the SOMATOM Perspective can scan long ranges rapidly, making this the ideal scanner for thoracic examinations. Capable of scanning a 50 cm area with high image quality in just 5.21 seconds, the SOMATOM Perspective can potentially image all body regions, widening clinical capabilities to potentially include high-end neurology and cardiac scanning. The scanner offers Siemens' innovative Iterative Temporal Resolution Improvement Method (iTRIM), which improves the temporal resolution for cardiac examinations compared to conventional cardiac CT image reconstruction.

Additionally, with its slim gantry and footprint of 194 square feet, the SOMATOM Perspective can be installed even in small rooms. On average, it requires less electricity than other CT systems and can be cooled by the ambient air without additional HVAC. An Illumination MoodLight with adjustable LED panel is integrated into the SOMATOM Perspective to brighten the atmosphere of many exam rooms. Installation typically takes only one day, and the system is available with service and leasing options tailored to the community hospital.

(1) In clinical practice, the use of SAFIRE may reduce CT patient dose depending on the clinical task, patient size, anatomical location, and clinical practice. A consultation with a radiologist and a physicist should be made to determine the appropriate dose to obtain diagnostic image quality for the particular clinical task. The following test method was used to determine a 54 to 60% dose reduction when using the SAFIRE reconstruction software. Noise, CT numbers, homogeneity, low-contrast resolution and high contrast resolution were assessed in a Gammex 438 phantom. Low dose data reconstructed with SAFIRE showed the same image quality compared to full dose data based on this test. Data on file.

Launched recently by Siemens Healthcare Sector, Agenda 2013 is a two-year global initiative to further strengthen the Healthcare Sector's innovative power and competitiveness. Specific measures will be implemented in four fields of action: Innovation, Competitiveness, Regional Footprint, and People Development.

The Siemens Healthcare Sector is one of the world's largest suppliers to the healthcare industry and a trendsetter in medical imaging, laboratory diagnostics, medical information technology and hearing aids. Siemens offers its customers products and solutions for the entire range of patient care from a single source – from prevention and early detection to diagnosis, and on to treatment and aftercare. By optimizing clinical workflows for the most common diseases, Siemens also makes healthcare faster, better and more cost-effective. Siemens Healthcare employs some 51,000 employees worldwide and operates around the world. In fiscal year 2011 (to September 30), the Sector posted revenue of 12.5 billion euros and profit of around 1.3 billion euros. For further information please visit: www.siemens.com/healthcare.

SOURCE Siemens Healthcare