From the October 2022 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine

In the CT market, as with other imaging modalities, manufacturers continue focus on improving workflow, increasing image quality and lowering radiation dose.

Photon-counting CT is also seeing inroads. The technology uses detectors to capture and measure each individual X-ray that passes through a patient’s body, instead of measuring thousands of X-ray photons as a whole as in a conventional CT scanner. This eliminates the electronic noise from the detector systems, leading to better image quality without additional radiation dose.

Here is what’s new in CT scanners and software from several companies.
Canon Medical
In June, Canon Medical received FDA 510(k) clearance for the Precise IQ-Engine (PIQE), which provides deep learning reconstruction to produce high-resolution imaging on the Aquilion ONE / PRISM Edition CT scanner. The solution uses AI to improve resolution of cardiac studies, offering benefits that include improved visualization of plaque to aid in plaque evaluation, reduction in blooming artifact to aid in assessment of in-stent restenosis and reduction in blooming artifact of calcium to improve visualization of lumen.

The solution expands Canon’s suite of deep learning reconstruction features on the Aquilion ONE / PRISM Edition, which also offers Canon's Advanced intelligent Clear-IQ Engine (AiCE) DLR.

The company also recently received clearance for SilverBeam, a beam-shaping energy filter that optimizes the X-ray beam and lowers the radiation dose in CT scans. When combined with AiCE DLR, SilverBeam enables lung cancer screening CTs with doses closer to a chest X-ray, according to Dhruv Mehta, managing director of the CT business unit for Canon Medical Systems USA.

CurveBeam AI
CurveBeam recently announced that it has merged with StraxCorp to form CurveBeam AI.

“StraxCorp’s broad IP-portfolio for AI and deep learning AI bone separation, segmentation and analysis in the bone health space perfectly complements CurveBeam’s market leading bilateral weight bearing point-of-care diagnostic cone beam CT imaging solutions,” said Vinti Singh, director of marketing for CurveBeam AI.

Since last year, CurveBeam AI has adapted its InReach cone beam CT imaging system for the distal extremities to be able to assess bone microstructure in a point-of-care setting. The InReach high resolution peripheral quantitative CT (HR-pQCT) offers a resolution of 80 micron to visualize cortical porosity and trabecular density. This can be used for bone health assessment prior to orthopedic joint replacement surgery to prevent adverse outcomes due to bone fragility.

October 2022 Magazine

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