Siemens PET/CT Receives FDA Clearance

Siemens Healthcare announced FDA has cleared features associated with their new Biograph mCT positron emission tomography/computed tomography scanner, which the company unveiled at the RSNA meeting in November 2011.

The Biograph mCT provides precise measurement of metabolic processes and data qualification, as well as cardiac blood flow. The PET quantification allows physician to more precisely characterize cancer lesions, and the ability to measure myocardial blood flow allows for more accurate assessment of multi-vessel disease, the company said. In neurology, noninvasive assessment of the brain can potentially improve the diagnosis and management of patients who present with signs of dementia, according to the company.

The Biograph mCT incorporates Siemens’ OptisoHD (High Definition) detector system, which features a fine volumetric resolution of 87 mm. Also included is Time of Flight (TOF) and HD-PET, ensuring fast, precise images with minimum radiation dose, according to Siemens. The Quanti-QC daily system normalization can be performed overnight, calibrating and tuning the system to the right specifications.

The system also features a patient handling system to address differential deflection, the Auto Cardiac Registration that automatically aligns CT and PET heart images and reduces variability between users, as well as Siemens Molecular and Anatomical Registration Technologies, which the company said was a new form of attenuation correction for neurological images that doesn’t require CT data.

The Biograph mCT is expected to ship in May 2012.