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Siemens Showcases Latest Applications, Low-Dose Scanning with Dual Source CT at SCCT

Press releases may be edited for formatting or style | July 14, 2010
Dual Source CT shown at SCCT
Las Vegas, Nev. - In computed tomography angiography (CTA), radiation dose now can be reduced most of the times to below one millisievert (mSv) for one scan even in clinical routine. However, this is only possible using the latest Siemens Dual Source CT technology, as leading heart specialists will report this
week at the 2010 Annual Scientific Meeting of the Society of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography (SCCT), in Las Vegas, July 15-18. At SCCT, SOMATOM® Definition Flash CT scanner users will also show how they use the system to display the coronary vessels, as well as the aorta, within one scan.

Recently, cardiologists have been using the SOMATOM® Definition Flash to plan the procedure for one of the newest therapy methods for valvular heart disease:
Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation (TAVI). Prior to this minimally invasive intervention, physicians had to examine the heart's anatomy closely. This demand is also supported by the cardiovascular CT applications of the imaging software syngo®.via1. With automated processes, these applications can spare the cardiologists many manual steps that before were necessary - for instance, to measure the vessels. Furthermore, syngo.via also supports intraoperative imaging during the TAVI procedure.

"SOMATOM Definition Flash enables us to significantly reduce CTA radiation dose in clinical routine into the sub-mSv range for the vast majority of patients," said Jörg Hausleiter, MD, cardiologist and director of the Intensive Care Unit at the German Heart Center in Munich, Germany. Hausleiter and his colleagues have examined 60 to 70 percent of their patients with a radiation dose below one mSv. The Siemens scanner enables them to display the entire heart volume within only one heartbeat - independent of the patient's heart rate. This is a quantum leap in CTA of the coronary vessels, where, until now, conventional technology has required considerably higher dose rates. Examinations in the sub-mSv range were only possible in very few, selected patients. Dual Source CT allows scanning every patient with high or irregular heart rates - even without the use of beta blockers to slow down the heart rate. This means that even patients who cannot tolerate beta blockers may be spared referral to invasive angiography.

SOMATOM Definition Flash's low-dose scanning potential also benefits patients with heart valve disease who were selected for a TAVI and must be examined by CT in order to plan the procedure. The minimally invasive TAVI treatment is particularly appropriate for older patients with a high perioperative risk during heart surgery. It links the implantation of an artificial heart valve with a balloon dilatation in the catheter laboratory. The great advantage is that the patient's thorax must not be opened as the new valve is inserted through the femoral artery or through a small incision between the ribs.