December 24, 2012 — At RSNA 2012, GE Healthcare focused attention on next-generation products and solutions in its computed tomography (CT) and Advantage Workstation (AW) businesses with the announcement of three scanners now available — the Optima CT660 FREEdom Edition, the Optima CT540 and the Discovery CT750 HD FREEdom Edition, representing more than $800 million of investment over 15 years. GE Healthcare’s innovative technologies continue to help redefine “low dose” with novel dose-reporting solutions, unique image reconstruction techniques, Dose Check upgrades, online courses and a new informational website.
“Year after year, GE’s tomography CT and AW businesses are industry leaders in cutting-edge technology that improves diagnostic image quality while enabling lower dose, and this year is no exception,” said Steve Gray, vice president and general manager of GE Healthcare’s CT and AW business. “Our new Optima products in particular are assisting in making the experience of getting a CT scan better for the patient, the radiologist administering the scan and the physician interpreting the scan’s results.”
Cardiac CT
GE presented the Optima CT660 FREEdom Edition, which features exclusive Motion FREEdom with intelligent coronary motion correction. It is a platform that enables fast, high-performance imaging, with expanded capabilities for use in the emergency room as well as innovative dose reduction features.
Based on exclusive FREEdom technologies (Fast Registered Energies and ECG), this innovative system represents a solution to “freeze” coronary motion in higher heart rate coronary CTA exams through the introduction of intelligent motion correction via SnapShot Freeze. SnapShot Freeze can help significantly reduce coronary motion and overcome the inherent limitation of hardware-only solutions. By precisely detecting vessel motion and velocity, SnapShot Freeze can determine actual vessel position and intelligently correct the effects of motion during cardiac CT exams.
With the Optima CT660, users can scan quickly in one pass with diagnostic image quality and images reconstructed in real time. The patient can be scanned in seconds, which is critical in emergency room visits. The Optima CT660 allows extended coverage of 80 mm with VolumeShuttle, providing twice the brain coverage for a single bolus of contrast at lower dose than continuous acquisition techniques. The high-power capability and thin slices of the Optima CT660 also provide the demanding clarity needed for detecting small lesions.
The Optima CT660 FREEdom Edition is also the first CT system that is both ecomagination-qualified and healthymagination-validated, two of GE’s global initiatives aimed at transforming healthcare delivery. It consumes up to 60 percent less energy than previous GE CT systems and boasts a 15 percent lower sitting requirement compared to other 64-channel detector scanners. Over the life of the product, these substantial savings can translate into lower operational costs.
GE also showcased the Discovery CT750 HD FREEdom Edition, the world’s first cardiac spectral CT.
Patient Care
The Optima CT540 is now available to customers around the world. This product boasts an updated user interface, enhanced workflow updates, and dose reduction technology designed around ASiR, the most widely used CT iterative reconstruction technology worldwide. In order to maximize productivity, the Xtream workflow management tools were improved with the following features:
- Basic patient information is displayed on the gantry LCD touch screen, along with distraction videos for patients;
- Default Patient Positioning (DPP) with preset positioning;
- Dynamic Transition with SmartPrep with Xtream Injector that starts the injection process in synchronization with “Start Scan” on the CT system to simplify the enhancement exam workflow;
- Emergency patient mode as a dedicated user interface (UIF) to start emergency exams quickly; and
- Ten Prospective Multiple Reconstruction (PMR) can be preprogrammed as part of the scan protocol prior to acquisition to make reading smoother.
Technology
By embedding its most popular AW advanced visualization applications into PACS (picture archiving and communication system), AW Server enables a workflow experience where all radiology tools come together. This new version of AW Server also delivers virtualization and scalability to address the growing need for advanced visualization across the enterprise. AW Server and applications deliver one seamless workflow environment that optimizes reading experience and productivity, from the moment images are acquired until results are reported by physicians.
For more information: www.gehealthcare.com
July 24, 2024 
