New Biograph mCT PET-CT Enables Greater Diagnostic Certainty

"By bringing accuracy and reproducibility to quantification in PET, we can more precisely characterize cancer lesions, allowing for better staging and monitoring of the change in activity over time for more accurate assessment of treatment response", said Jerry Froelich, M.D., FACR, Loken Professor of Radiological Sciences and head of molecular imaging and nuclear medicine at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. "In cardiology, being able to measure absolute myocardial blood flow allows for accurate assessment of multi-vessel disease. In neurology, the potential is huge. The ability to noninvasively assess the brain can improve the diagnosis and therefore management of patients presenting signs of Alzheimer's disease."

Siemens incorporated this clinical requirement in the new Biograph mCT to support physicians in treating many oncological, cardiological, and neurological diseases—not only through earlier, more exact diagnosis but also in therapy planning and precise monitoring of disease progression. The additional information provided will help enable physicians to make decisions with high certainty and initiate more patient-tailored therapies.

The level of measurement and quantification to be offered by the new Biograph mCT has special significance for the diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases, such as dementia.

With the latest Biograph mCT and potential new PET biomarkers,[1] reliable imaging of beta-amyloid plaque in the brain may be possible, providing additional information to aid in the diagnosis of dementia, potentially slowing disease progression through earlier care. The most frequently diagnosed form of dementia is Alzheimer's disease, which currently affects an estimated 35.6 million people worldwide, with predictions of as many as 115.4 million patients having the disease by 2050.[2]

Technical Innovations
With conventional technology, clinicians face the issue of variability in quantitative results due to software and hardware challenges. Intelligently engineered to overcome these technical and procedural obstacles, the new Biograph mCT is designed to offer accurate and reproducible quantification in PET?CT imaging by ensuring that each element of the imaging chain is optimized—with an emphasis on the finest volumetric image resolution on the market,[3] daily system calibration, accuracy of attenuation correction using automated co-registration algorithms, and more automated, user-independent and reproducible SUV calculation methods for daily clinical practice.

The new Biograph mCT incorporates the Siemens unique OptisoHD (High-Definition) Detector System, which will feature a fine volumetric resolution[4] of only 87 mm3. Other innovative technologies include Time of Flight (TOF) and HD (High-Definition) PET, ensuring fast, precise images with minimum radiation dose.

With Siemens Quanti?QC, daily system normalization can be performed overnight, calibrating and tuning the system to precisely the right specifications, facilitating consistent and optimal performance, day after day.

SMART (Siemens Molecular & Anatomical Registration Technologies) address the traditional problem of inherent scanner drift and inaccurate attenuation correction through misregistration of anatomical and functional images. To facilitate accurate attenuation correction and reliable quantitative measurements, the new Biograph mCT will feature a unique patient handling system designed to virtually eliminate differential deflection as well as Auto Cardiac Registration that automatically aligns CT and PET heart images and reduces variability between users. SMART also offers a new form of attenuation corNike Special Forces Air Force 1 Boots