ADAC introduces new cameras at RSNA

Nuclear medicine vendor ADAC Laboratories of Milpitas, CA, introduced two new variable-angle gamma cameras at this month's Radiological Society of North America meeting in Chicago: Forte and Vertex V60. ADAC hopes Forte, a new open-gantry camera, will hone its competitive edge against the open-style systems that have been introduced recently by other companies.

ADAC was one of the pioneers of the variable-angle segment when it introduced its Genesys Vertex camera in 1992, with a detector configuration based on a dual-ring design that supports the detector heads. Gamma camera introductions since then from companies like SMV, Siemens, Elscint, and Picker feature open-style gantries, which increase versatility.

ADAC's Forte is a dual-head camera with an open gantry design that ADAC calls FreeDome. It can image patients on hospital beds, gurneys, and wheelchairs without hindrance from the detector arms or gantry feet. Forte also includes an automated collimator exchanger called ColliMate.

Forte employs the same imaging chain as Vertex, but includes several enhancements that ADAC introduced at the RSNA meeting. The company's Epix HP digital detectors improve count rates by 25% to 60%, according to Mohamed Elmandjra, vice president of marketing. ADAC also has upgraded the computer workstation it is using to a Sun Microsystems Ultra 60.

Production volumes of Forte will begin in the first quarter of 1999, and the system will cost 20% more than the previous Vertex model. ADAC's Molecular Coincidence Detection module is now available on Forte, while the company's Vantage nonuniform attenuation correction and MCD/AC protocols are six to nine months away.

The company's second new camera, Vertex V60, is the next generation of its Vertex dual-detector gamma camera, which includes the Epix HP detectors and an Ultra 60 computer. Vertex V60 also offers MCD/AC for PET-like imaging and Vantage attenuation correction options. It will carry the same price as the previous Vertex model.