by
Lisa Chamoff, Contributing Reporter | June 05, 2017
From the June 2017 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine
SPECT, on the other hand, is seeing “a little bit of a cannibalization from other imaging modalities,” and in some areas, is being taken over by PET.
“We see more growth [in PET], so we’ve doubled down on our investment,” Shalyaev says.
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Positron
Positron’s primary product is the Attrius PET camera, along with its cfrQuant software package.
Offering PET without CT allows the company to provide a system at a lower price point and smaller footprint, says Aaron Hargrave, clinical applications specialist at Positron.
The company’s primary focus is the cardiac space, though the Attrius does have applications within oncology and neurology.
“We have a site that is primarily doing beta amyloid research,” Hargrave says.
Hargrave sees a market that’s moving away from SPECT for cardiac applications to PET, which can detect what is called hibernating myocardium, or viable heart tissue that is not able to be seen with perfusion imaging.
“Hibernating myocardium will take up FDG,” Hargrave says. “Scar tissue won’t take up anything.”
Siemens Healthineers
The latest FDA-cleared nuclear medicine product from Siemens Healthineers is Symbia Intevo Bold, a SPECT/CT system that is the latest addition to the company’s Symbia Intevo product line, introduced in 2013.
The Bold, which has a 16-slice CT scanner, enhances dual-use capabilities at a time when facilities continue to move toward SPECT/CT, says Collin Schaeffer, global product marketing manager for SPECT/CT at Siemens.
Siemens Symbia Intevo Bold
“We continue to see customers migrate from SPECT-only systems to SPECT/CT,” Schaeffer says. “If they’re going to invest in adopting the technology, they want to make sure they’re getting the best system for both the SPECT and the CT.”
The scanner can be used as a standalone CT, or can act as a backup and handle overflow from radiology or the emergency department.
The system also comes with enhanced CT capabilities, including Siemens’ SAFIRE iterative reconstruction and iMAR metal artifact reduction to enable high image quality at the lowest possible dose.
“It brings some of these capabilities to SPECT/CT for the first time,” Schaeffer says.
In PET, Siemens has also introduced the Biograph Horizon Flow edition, a PET/CT system that is pending FDA clearance. The system features Siemens’ unique FlowMotion continuous patient bed motion technology, which previously was only available on the company’s premium PET/CT platform, the Biograph mCT Flow.
