Freeman Hospital upgrades CT imaging equipment

Published: 5-Oct-2012

Dual source system to be used for paediatric, oncology and coronary procedures


Freeman Hospital in Newcastle has ordered a SOMATOM Definition Flash CT system for use in a range of procedures including cardiac CT, paediatric scanning and coronary angiography.

Part of the Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, the hospital has purchased the system from Siemens Healthcare to replace a previous-generation four-slice model from the same supplier.

Selected for its image quality, rapid scan times and low dose capabilities, the Definition Flash is a dual source CT system with Spiral Dual Energy, where two X-ray sources run simultaneously at different energies, acquiring two data sets showing different attenuation levels for easy classification of the scanned tissue.

The hospital will also be using the system for advanced oncology research such as quantifying tumour perfusion and its response to chemotherapy.

In addition, Freeman Hospital will be one of the first to benefit from the new Stellar Detectors from Siemens, designed to dramatically reduce electronic noise, cross-talk and increase the signal-to-noise ratio. This ensures slice blurring between neighbouring detector rows can be avoided and results in a much more precise imaging process.

The system also has two adaptive dose shields to ensure that patients only receive the minimum, clinically-relevant dose and can reduce dose values down to one millisievert or less. The heart can be examined at a radiation exposure level that is three times lower than the background radiation a person naturally absorbs in a year.

“With an international reputation for pioneering treatment in many areas including transplant surgery, it was important for us to select a CT system that would future-proof our imaging services ” said Graeme Hughes, senior superintendent radiographer manager at Freeman Hospital. “We decided to go for the gold standard in dual energy imaging, which can provide us with pre- and post-contrast images in a single scan. The added benefits of low dose and rapid scan times, particularly in paediatric CT, will also alleviate our anaesthetic specialists’ workload.”

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