NUCLEAR MEDICINE

PET technology drives nuclear medicine sector as vendors focus on cardiology and oncology

Replacement sales fuel nuclear medicine

The year's biggest news came in September, when GE Medical Systems announced a deal to buy Elscint's nuclear medicine and MR units for $100 million. The two companies determined that they would continue their joint venture, ELGEMS, which was formed in 1997 to manufacture nuclear medicine products.

Enthusiasm for PET is being fueled by the Health Care Financing Administration's decision to approve Medicare reimbursement for PET lung cancer scans. Although HCFA announced Medicare reimbursement in January, it wasn't until June that the agency released a payment rate, finally dispelling doubts that PET could be cost-effective in a clinical setting. PET practitioners are pleased with HCFA's payment rate of $1980 for PET procedures, an amount that covers both high-energy SPECT studies and dedicated PET.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR

ADAC. ADAC will display CPET, its dedicated PET scanner, which was cleared by the Food and Drug Administration in June and introduced at the Society of Nuclear Medicine show soon after. As of September, the company had received more than six orders for the system. ADAC will also highlight its Molecular Coincidence Detection/Attenuation Correction (MCD/AC) package for high-energy imaging on gamma cameras. The package was cleared in May, and ADAC will feature clinical results coming out of more than 30 sites where MCD/AC is installed.

Digirad. Digirad will display its single-head, solid-state digital gamma camera, Digirad 2020 TC Imager, which was cleared by the FDA in 1997. The company will highlight the clinical versatility of the unit, particularly for expanded applications such as breast imaging. As a work-in-progress, Digirad will present a rotating chair that enables the camera to conduct SPECT studies.

Elscint. Elscint surprised the medical imaging industry in September with the news that its nuclear medicine unit would be sold to GE. If the sale closes this month, as expected, Elscint's nuclear medicine products may be found in GE's booth.

At press time, Elscint was planning to display its MagiCam mid-range variable-angle, dual-head gamma camera, packaged with the company's XPert Pro workstation, a processing station used also with the premium VariCam camera. Elscint was also planning to emphasize its XPert Pro/S software, which can be offered as a stand-alone workstation that is compatible with any hardware and any gamma camera. Also on the company's agenda are the first clinical results of its COSEM iterative reconstruction algorithm, as well as an attenuation correction technique for VariCam called VTransACT, which was cleared by the FDA in June.

GE. GE plans to emphasize its pending acquisition of Elscint, as well as the 25th anniversary of GE's entry into the nuclear medicine market. On the product side, the Milwaukee company will display the Millennium VG and Millennium MG variable-angle gamma cameras and will emphasize nonuniform attenuation correction protocols on Millennium MG. The company will also highlight a new software release for its Genie workstation. GE reports that interest in PET is high, and the company will display its entire PET product line at the meeting.

IS2 Research. Exhibiting at its first RSNA conference, Canadian gamma camera manufacturer IS2 will display its two single-head digital cameras: NuCamma C+, a circular field-of-view model, and NuCamma Rx, a rectangular field-of-view system. IS2 received 510(k) clearance for the cameras in September.

Picker. Picker plans to introduce new Precision digital detectors for its Axis and Irix gamma cameras at the RSNA show. Designed to perform in both PET and SPECT modes, the detectors support the company's PET coincidence detection protocol, which made its debut at this year's SNM meeting. The detectors are standard on Axis and Irix cameras. The firm will also highlight its work-in-progress nonuniform attenuation correction protocol, Beacon, which performs in both SPECT and PET mode and can operate for more than seven years without replacing its gadolinium transmission source.

Siemens. Siemens' nuclear medicine unit will present extensions to its E.Cam variable-angle camera, demonstrating the unit with Profile attenuation correction techniques, as well as coincidence imaging protocols. The company plans to highlight its progress on developing a combination PET/SPECT imaging system with LSO/sodium iodide detectors. Also on the firm's agenda is the development of a combined PET/CT system, one of which is installed at the University of Pittsburgh.

SMV. SMV will present its DSXi and DST-XLi cameras at the conference. DSXi is a single-head camera upgradable to dual-head, and DST-XLi is a modified version of the company's DST-XL. The vendor will display further work on coincidence imaging, as well as upgraded iterative reconstruction software which integrates ordered subset expectation maximization (OSEM) with SPECT imaging. SMV will also highlight the DICOM connectivity of its products, as well as the firm's Volumetric Coincidence Reconstruction (VCR) and Transmission Attenuation Correction (TAC) technology.

Toshiba. Toshiba plans to bring its Toshiba E.Cam variable-angle gamma camera to the RSNA meeting, highlighting the unit's now-standard lung quantification, assessment of pulmonary function, and DICOM storage class capabilities. The company is shipping coincidence-ready E.Cams with five-eighth-inch crystals and will present coincidence images, as well as work-in-progress algorithms for cardiac imaging, fusion imaging, scatter correction triple energy window imaging, and a new database for CEqual cardiac programs.

MS. MADDEN YEE is an assistant editor of Diagnostic Imaging Scan newsletter.