Increased productivity and diagnostic confidence with Dual Source Dual Energy

Dual Source Dual Energy

Dual Energy examinations provide answers for a wide range of diagnostic challenges. With Siemens SOMATOM CT scanners, physicians receive superior Dual Energy images at equal or often lower dose levels compared with conventional CT examinations. This makes Dual Energy the modality of choice for many types of patients and a wide variety of clinical questions.

Dual Source Dual Energy – a versatile solution

With Dual Source Dual Energy, every scan produces two data sets. This not only eliminates the need for a non-enhanced scan, it also improves the quality of routine and non-routine examinations – all with a dose comparable to conventional 120-kV scans. The SOMATOM Definition Flash from Siemens is unique in its ability to provide excellent low-kV images, save on dosage, evaluate heart morphology and coronaries, and visualize quantitative perfusion information of organs.[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_crop","fid":"13823","attributes":{"alt":"","class":"media-image","id":"media_crop_188391476191","media_crop_h":"0","media_crop_image_style":"-1","media_crop_instance":"601","media_crop_rotate":"0","media_crop_scale_h":"0","media_crop_scale_w":"0","media_crop_w":"0","media_crop_x":"0","media_crop_y":"0","title":" ","typeof":"foaf:Image"}}]]

Defining low-dose CT
With Dual Source technology and the Stellar Detectors, the SOMATOM Definition Flash sets the benchmark for dose efficiency. Together with CARE Dose4D, CARE kV, and SAFIRE¹ (sinogram-affirmed iterative reconstruction) it offers the industry’s only comprehensive dose reduction portfolio. What is also required, however, is the right dose – the optimum dose level to deliver the best possible image quality.

At Siemens, these efforts are guided by the ALARA principle: As Low As Reasonably Achievable. Only Dual Source technology can consistently make scans fast enough to achieve this image quality at benchmark dose levels – defining the threshold for low dosage in CT scanning. That includes sub-mSv heart imaging, triple-rule-outs that are routinely under two mSv, and ultra-low-dose pediatric scans with the help of CARE Child.

Split-second scanning

Only the SOMATOM Definition Flash’s Dual Source technology allows scanning at Flash speed, so that diagnostic images can be acquired from almost any patient – independent of their heart rate, their ability to hold their breath, or their willingness to remain still. This makes sedation for children unnecessary, optimizes the golden hour for trauma patients, and addresses all types of challenging cardiac cases. With the SOMATOM Definition Flash, speed means a more reliable diagnosis.

By uniting unique technologies and exceptional patient care, the SOMATOM Definition Flash makes computed tomography more patient-centric, increases productivity and diagnostic confidence – and truly represents the gold standard in CT.

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¹

In clinical practice, the use of SAFIRE may reduce CT patient dose depending on the clinical task, patient size, and anatomical location, and clinical practice. A consultation with a radiologist and a physicist should be made to determine the appropriate dose to obtain diagnostic image quality for the particular clinical task. The following test method was used to determine a 54 to 60% dose reduction when using the SAFIRE reconstruction software. Noise, CT numbers, homogeneity, low-contrast resolution, and high-contrast resolution were assessed in an ammex 438 phantom. Low-dose data reconstructed with SAFIRE showed the same image quality compared with full-dose data based on this test. Data on file.