Siemens gets nod for CT calcium scoring

Siemens Medical Systems has received 510(k) clearance for a calcium scoring software package for cardiac CT studies. The software is designed to help physicians determine a patient’s risk of future cardiac problems by analyzing the amount of calcium in the coronary arteries.

The software is included on Siemens’ 3-D Virtuoso postprocessing workstation, and works with data collected by the company’s SubSecond Cardio CT scanning package (SCAN 4/29/99). The calcium scoring option enables radiologists to mark a region of interest and receive a calcium score for that area, using either Agatston or volume scores to measure the degree of calcification. The software also automatically creates reports for referring physicians, according to the company.