Philips launches products at RSNA

Philips has released two new imaging products at the Radiology Society North America 2013 conference in Chicago.

EHI Imaging Informatics editor Kim Thomas is attending the annual conference this week.

The IQon Spectral CT system has introduced colour as a way of identifying the composition of an image without involving time-consuming protocols. It uses a new spectral detector that can discriminate between X-ray photons of multiple high and low energies simultaneously.

This means that in a single scan it can characterise structures based on their material makeup as well as providing anatomical information.

After a spectral CT examination, clinicians can interpret the conventional grey-scale anatomical images and if necessary access the spectral information acquired during the same scan.

The Vereos PET/CT uses digital silicon photomultiplier detectors instead of traditional analogue detectors.

According to Philips, this offers twice the sensitivity, volumetric resolution and quantitative accuracy of analogue systems. This improvement translates into higher image quality and increased diagnostic confidence, the company said.

Dr Pablo Ros, a radiologist at University Hospitals Case medical Center said: “personalised medicine will require a patient-specific picture of the functional processes associated with disease. Accurate quantification of processes is therefore an important requirement for functional imaging in diagnosis, therapy and research.”

Gene Saragnese, chief executive of imaging systems at Philips Healthcare, said that the new systems provide radiologists with “exceptional quality and accuracy in images at low dose rates, helping clinicians to get answers the first time round.”

Imaging Informatics editor Kim Thomas is reporting from the Radiological Society of North America annual conference in Chicago, USA, this week. You can contact her on kimthomas@e-health-media.com.