Siemens Celebrates First U.S. Installation of SOMATOM Perspective CT System

Malvern, Pa., Aug. 20, 2012 – Siemens Healthcare is opening the door for more widespread adoption of its world-renowned computed tomography (CT) solutions with the first U.S. installation of the SOMATOM Perspective CT system, a 128-slice scanner designed to drive efficiency and reduce costs. Northside Hospital-Atlanta, a 537-bed acute-care facility in Atlanta, recently installed the SOMATOM Perspective in one of its outpatient imaging centers located adjacent to the hospital. Developed to enable budget-conscious community hospitals, critical access hospitals and outpatient centers to extend the range of available examinations to their communities at reduced radiation dose, the SOMATOM Perspective CT system is an example of Siemens’ approach to delivering innovative solutions that provide maximum customer value – a primary goal of the Healthcare Sector’s Agenda 2013 two-year global initiative.

“The SOMATOM Perspective 128-slice CT system has enabled us to provide patients with exceptional quality CT scans at a low dose, quickly and comfortably, from routine cases to more advanced scanning,” says Deidre Dixon, director of radiology services, Northside Hospital.

Included as a standard option on the SOMATOM Perspective, SAFIRE¹ (Sinogram Affirmed Iterative Reconstruction) helps users reduce patient dose by up to 60% compared to previous filtered back projection techniques. SAFIRE, which has a reconstruction speed of up to 15 images per second, can be used in daily clinical routine. Facilitating its use in daily routine and minimizing exam times, the SOMATOM Perspective also boasts Fully Assisting Scanner Technologies (FAST) to help simplify and automate complex, time-consuming procedures.

With its interleaved Volume Reconstruction (IVR), the SOMATOM Perspective visualizes small diagnostic details by using information from 128 slices. With the added benefit of a 38 mm detector width, trade-offs between scan speed and image quality are not necessary. Temporal resolution for cardiac imaging is improved with Iterative Temporal Improvement Method (iTRIM).

The SOMATOM Perspective also has the exclusive eMode feature, which Siemens created to determine and automatically select system scan parameters so that the Perspective operates with reduced tube power while maintaining dose, potentially reducing wear on the scanner and increasing its lifecycle.

Featuring a slim gantry design and a footprint of 194 square feet, the SOMATOM Perspective CT system can be installed even in small rooms. An illumination MoodLight with adjustable LED panel is integrated into the system to brighten the exam room atmosphere.

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 by Siemens Healthcare Sector in November 2011, 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.