The ability to generate high-quality SPECT/CT images starts with StarGuide’s unique Optical Scout technology, which leverages the system’s efficiency-focused Swift Plan workflow to determine the contour of the patient body and set the rest of the clinical scanning procedure into motion. After processing the Optical Scout data, StarGuide’s detectors and table automatically position themselves for close proximity and contactless scanning of the patient. The slim Digital Focus Detectors then orbit the body as closely as possible, and from all necessary angles, to scan the target area — and not the air surrounding the patient. The result is high-resolution images for clinicians and minimization of time on the table for patients[3].
“StarGuide allows us to acquire the patient’s data in the best conditions,” explains Gilles Le Rouzic, Medical Physicist, Hospital of Orleans, France. “The pixelated CZT modules combined with registered Dual-Channel tungsten collimation also contribute to improved resolution and sensitivity compared to conventional SPECT/CT[3]. Every test we’ve conducted thus far shows better results than a standard NaI camera. All in all, the shape adaptive gantry of this new device is innovative by its very nature.”
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Before performing a SPECT/CT, a clinician administers very small amounts of radioactive materials (radiopharmaceuticals) which releases radioactive emissions that are detected by the CZT detectors and processed into images. Compared to conventional technologies, CZT detectors offer improved SPECT sensitivity and resolution[3] of these emissions, which in turn helps clinicians pinpoint the size, shape, and position of lesions with exceptional accuracy. Paired with innovative reconstruction, the resulting images provide outstanding quantification for the diagnosis and staging of disease and monitoring of treatment.
Traditionally, only one tracer could be imaged at a time, but the excellent energy resolution of the GE Healthcare-produced CZT crystals for StarGuide’s Digital Focus Detectors offers clinicians the unique ability to simultaneously image multiple tracers in a single scan. This ability helps reduce the need for multiple patient visits and, in relevant cases, multiple patient sedations. Also, the inherent temporal registration between the images helps increase clinicians’ confidence in differential diagnosis.
Finally, the combination of StarGuide’s shape adaptive gantry and CZT detector technology supports the imaging of tracers used in Theranostics with impressive quality. This includes Lutetium-177 (177Lu), a tracer used to diagnose and evaluate a patient’s treatment response for neuroendocrine and prostate cancer[4].
