Shimadzu upgrades CT and MRI platforms

Shimadzu Medical Systems has been busy since last year's RSNAmeeting upgrading CT and MRI scanners it introduced at that show.In MRI, the Torrance, CA, company will unveil three new models:Magnex Alpha II, Magnex 100/AP and Magnex 100/XP.

Magnex Alpha II is a 0.5-tesla scanner that improves on lastyear's Alpha platform with 14 millitesla/meter gradients, comparedto 10 mtesla/m gradients on Alpha. Magnex 100/AP and Magnex 100/XPare 1-tesla scanners. Magnex 100/XP is the more fully featuredmodel, with 15 mtesla/m gradients capable of one-second T2-weightedimaging. Both models have redesigned consoles that are similarto those of the Alpha line.

In CT, Shimadzu will again show the SCT-7000TX and SCT-7000THscanners, the vendor's first slip-ring scanners, which were introducedlast year.

In vascular imaging, Shimadzu will display new digital imagingcapabilities for the MH-100 ceiling-suspended C-arm, such as real-timesmooth mask (RSM), a work-in-progress technique in which the C-armmoves in a circular tomographic-style motion and acquires digitalsubtraction angiography (DSA) images at the same time.