Picker to move artifact correction to dual-head gamma camera line

Vendor also shows new mammography unit

Picker International is planning to transfer its simultaneoustransmission-emission protocol (STEP) to its dual-head Prism 2000XP line of gamma cameras, the Cleveland vendor announced at thisyear's Radiological Society of North America meeting. Picker wasthe first vendor to introduce an attenuation-correction protocol,for its triple-head Prism 3000 XP line, and the only vendor with510(k) clearance for attenuation correction at the conference(SCAN 6/1/94).

Picker has developed an installed base of 20 Prism 3000 STEPsites since it began shipping the product this summer. At theRSNA show, Picker displayed comparisons between STEP images andPET acquisitions. In one case, STEP revealed defects that werenot visible on conventional SPECT images, according to James Fulton,vice president and general manager of Picker's nuclear medicinedivision. Fulton replaced James Besett as head of the divisionin November.

Several other vendors are developing simultaneous attenuation-correctiontechniques for dual-head cameras in the 90-degree configuration,but Picker may be unique in adapting the technology to Prism 2000,an opposable-angle system. Picker declined to discuss specificsof the technique pending the issuance of a patent on the protocol,but said it would be used in cardiology and possibly whole-bodyapplications.

In addition to STEP, Picker showed its work on CardioFan collimators,which increase the acquisition speed of triple-head cameras incardiac studies by using more of the detector head to image anorgan. Picker has begun shipping CardioFan, Fulton said. Pickeralso displayed its work in 511-keV F-18 FDG imaging, as well assoftware additions to its Odyssey workstation that bring imagefusion capabilities to the unit and give users a gateway to theWorld Wide Web.

On the x-ray side, Picker is looking to boost its position inmammography by introducing Preference, a new mammography unitshown as a work-in-progress at the meeting. Preference was designedto maximize patient comfort and operator ease-of-use, accordingto Steven Gray, marketing manager of Picker's x-ray division.

Picker also displayed a digital spot mammography device for Preference.The device uses charge-coupled device (CCD) and fiber-optics technology,with a resolution of 11 to 12 line pairs per millimeter and afield-of-view of 5 x 5 cm.

Other new products in x-ray include the Clinix-VPE family ofradiographic systems and a DSP digital spotfilm system.