GE Launches New 16-Slice SPECT/CT in Europe

October 11, 2009 – GE Healthcare announced the European launch of Discovery NM/CT 670, a hybrid imaging platform designed to improve workflow, dose management, and overall image quality, during the EANM'09 Annual Congress of the European Association of Nuclear Medicine, held Oct. 10-14 in Barcelona, Spain.

The system combines GE Healthcare’s BrightSpeed Elite 16-slice CT, a newly designed SPECT gantry for greater positional flexibility, and the latest advancements in Nuclear Medicine detectors.

The Discovery NM/CT 670 is designed enable physicians to perform advanced hybrid and standalone CT procedures. The Discovery NM/CT 670 platform incorporates flexible and proven workflow technology advancements from 10 years of Infinia Hawkeye innovations and installations with a modular gantry, designed to embrace tomorrow’s technology today. The BrightSpeed Elite, providing proven multi-slice CT performance, completes the academic system.

“With the combination of advanced CT and SPECT technology available on the Discovery NM/CT 670, we will be able to optimize both our SPECT and standalone CT protocols,” said professor Ora Israel from Rambam Medical Center, Israel.

The Discovery NM/CT 670 also has the capability to shorten acquisition times, improve dose management, and enable more convenient patient scheduling in comparison to separate, conventional SPECT and CT exams.

Keeping the patient in mind, the system is said to able to reduce scan time dramatically. Bone imaging protocols, including planar whole body, 3D SPECT and CT attenuation correction/localization, are amongst the most frequently performed nuclear medicine procedures. With conventional nuclear hybrid imaging, a traditional bone imaging protocol can take up to 55 minutes. With the Discovery NM/CT 670, the time is reduced to as little as 25 minutes. This reduction in time can be less painful, and possibly reduce patient movement due to the pain or uncomfortable positioning, minimizing artifacts in the scan. A shorter, more comfortable scan also has the potential to improve image quality, allowing clinicians to be more confident in their diagnosis.

The Discovery NM/CT 670 is 510(k) pending at FDA. It is not available for sale in the United States.

For more information: www.gehealthcare.com