MALVERN, Pa. & CLEVELAND--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 9, 2006--Siemens Medical Solutions today announced a licensing agreement with Cleveland Clinic to market reconstruction and calibration software developed by Clinic researchers. Providing clearer images at a higher resolution than traditional single or multi-pinhole collimators, this advanced Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT) solution could allow researchers to more quickly and accurately image new diagnostic and therapeutic compounds in preclinical studies. In addition to marketing the software, Siemens expects to release a new multi-pinhole solution based on the Clinic's technology.

"Siemens continues to set the standard in advanced molecular imaging research," said Michael Reitermann, president, Molecular Imaging Division, Siemens Medical Solutions. "Accuracy and efficiency are imperative in this arena, and with this new reconstruction and calibration technology, Siemens will deliver the highest quality multi-pinhole SPECT solution to its customers."

With multi-pinhole reconstruction and calibration software developed by Dr. Frank DiFilippo of Cleveland Clinic's Department of Molecular and Functional Imaging, researchers could produce high-resolution images with more specificity in a fraction of the time of traditional collimators, which can take up to one hour to complete. In much the same way that cameras collect rays of light to produce photographs, collimators filter streams of gamma rays to create images of radiopharmaceutical distribution. The pinhole collimators provide image magnification, making it possible to acquire data with sub-millimeter resolution. The new software permits the accurate use of multiple pinholes, increasing the sensitivity of the detector to the gamma ray stream and reducing the time needed to acquire these images.
The new software addresses an important challenge associated with multi-pinhole collimators. With each added pinhole, the complexity of the detector geometry increases, amplifying the importance of accurate calibration.

"Such accurate calibration is an enabling factor for high-resolution image reconstruction," said DiFilippo. "This development accounts for the complete scanner geometry to a high degree of precision. Researchers can select a different multi-pinhole collimator configuration for each study and calibrate the scanner with a simple automated process. This new method can increase the versatility of preclinical scanners and provide higher quality images than traditional calibration methods."

More Voices