FDA Approves Q.Clear by GE for PET/CT Imaging

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Q.Clear, a technology by GE Healthcare that improves accuracy and quality in PET/CT imaging.

Q.Clear is an innovative tool that can provide up to two times improvement in both quantitative accuracy and image quality, according to a release. While technology in PET image reconstruction has improved over the last decade and provides better image quality, reduced acquisition time and lower injected dose, current technologies may force a compromise between image quality and quantitation. GE claims that Q.Clear technology shows the advantage of full convergence PET imaging without compromising quantitation and image quality.

Q.Clear provides clinicians with the ability to detect smaller lesions and determine earlier whether a patient is responding to current treatment. When combined with GE Healthcare’s Q.Suite, Q.Clear enables clinicians to assess treatment response more accurately, according to the release.

“We know that approximately 70 percent of cancer patients don’t always respond to their initial course of treatment,” Steve Gray, president and CEO of GE Healthcare MICT, said in a release. “If we can give clinicians an accurate, reliable and faster tool to confirm that a change in treatment is needed, the patient will benefit greatly. For example, PET/CT can help clinicians determine whether chemotherapy is working in fewer cycles, saving patients unnecessary procedures.”

Q.Clear is not yet available for countries that require CE marking.