Toshiba protocols correct artifacts

Toshiba America Medical Systems of Tustin, CA, will demonstrateprogress at the Society of Nuclear Medicine meeting in its approachto dealing with two artifact phenomena: photon scatter and attenuation.While competitors have concentrated on the attenuation correctioncomponent of artifact correction, Toshiba has emphasized TripleEnergy Window (TEW), a scatter correction technique essentialto effective dual-energy imaging, according to Steve Sickels,director of the vendor's nuclear medicine business unit.

Research has shown that scatter correction and attenuationcorrection are both needed for optimal imaging, he said. Toshibawill feature clinical studies performed at Harper-Grace Hospitalin Detroit and Keio University in Tokyo that demonstrate TEW'sdual thallium/sestamibi imaging capabilities. An application for510(k) clearance was filed in April for TEW, which operates onToshiba's GCA-7200A/DI dual-head or GCA-7100A/DI single-head cameras.

Progress on the scatter correction front has cleared the wayfor the introduction of TransView, Toshiba's investigational attenuationcorrection technique (SCAN 6/7/95), Sickels said. The device,designed for the GCA-7200A, uses a refillable flood that attachesto a detector. Users may choose among several transmission sources,including technetium, cobalt-57, and gadolinium. Toshiba willalso feature a new line of inexpensive processing and displayworkstations based on Sun's SparcStation 4 platform, Sickles said.