Philips Healthcare is stepping up efforts to deliver its ultra-premium Brilliance iCT to sites around the world. Jeffrey Studenka, Philips' senior director for field marketing, told Diagnostic Imaging at the Stanford MDCT conference that the company now expects to have 50 of the 256-slice units installed by the end of 2008. This is about four times as many as company execs were predicting when they unveiled the iCT at RSNA 2007.
On the MDCT meeting exhibit floor, Studenka and colleagues were showcasing not only the new premium-end scanner but also the Essence x-ray tube, detector system, and reconstruction engine behind the scanner. These components are found in the Brilliance 64-slice configuration as well as the iCT.
Five of the ultra-premium scanners are currently installed at sites around the world. Another five will be operating by the end of summer. Facilities currently running Brilliance iCT are MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland; Lenox Hill Hospital in New York; Washington Hospital Center in Washington, DC; Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis; and Carmel Medical Center in Haifa, Israel.
