Siemens Unveils Cost-efficient MRI

Siemens Healthineers will showcase at RSNA 2016 a new, cost-efficient 1.5T MRI.

The 1.5T MAGENTOM Sempra MRI is positioned for radiology practices and small- to medium-sized hospitals, according to a release.

The scanner is branded as a cost-efficient product, with a 60 cm bore, that Siemens expects to have a huge market as more practices and facilities seek cost-efficient scanners that don’t compromise on quality, according to Andreas Schneck, VP of marketing and sales for MR at Siemens Healthineers.

The MAGNETOM Sempra gives the consumer access to advanced clinical applications while optimizing total cost of ownership, Schneck said. “The purchasing price is attractive but also operational and total lifecycle costs, including energy savings, are part of the package, we also include aspects that focus on increasing productivity: 10 minute exams and a new service concept, the Healthineers Connect plan.”

The Siemens Healthineers Connect Plan provides an embedded service package for customers with a remote service connection. The package, included in the purchasing price, includes most of the relevant service from the second and third year of ownership, Schneck said. The plan is being pioneered with the MAGENTOM Sempra.

Included as standard with the MAGNETOM Sempra is the company’s Dot engine technology, which automates and streamlines workflow when examining the brain, spine, and large joints, according to the release, helping users increase productivity and avoid unnecessary repeat scans.

The system’s Quiet Suite technology expects to reduce sound pressure in brain and musculoskeletal exams with comparable image quality, the release said.

“We want to emphasize three main messages to our customers,” Schneck said. “We attach great importance to ensuring that with the MAGENTOM Sempra, we give our customers access to consistent quality; we want to give them the opportunity to expand their clinical opportunities, which is linked to offering advanced applications and also helps them differentiate themselves from the competition; and last but not least that aspect of financial certainty that’s linked to the concept of optimizing total cost of ownership.”

The challenge with MRI, Schneck said, is achieving consistent and reproducible image quality and that is a prerequisite to standardize the examinations. Siemens tackles this issue with the system’s standardized workflows that they expect to achieve user-independent quality.

The MAGNETOM Sempra is 510(k) pending.

Siemens Healthineers is at booth 1936.