|
Nuclear Medicine
Jaslok Hospital Installs 1st unit— Discovery NM530C with Alcyone Technology
With this technology, clinicians are able to gather image
data more quickly
 GE
Healthcare recently announced the introduction of Alcyone Technology, a revolutionary
nuclear cardiology platform in India. This revolution in nuclear cardiology
comes after an interval of 50 years. The first system in India with Alcyone
technology - Discovery NM 530C -- is installed and operational at Jaslok Hospital,
Mumbai.
"Alcyone technology is an example of our commitment to responsible dose
management and patient experience. Alcyone technology reduces injected dose
by up to 50 per cent and patient scanning time to as low as 3 minutes - which
is shortened by 10 times or a four-fold decrease in complete patient screening
time compared to conventional systems," said Terri Bresenham, Vice President
of the GE Healthcare Molecular Imaging business.
Alcyone Technology brings together a breakthrough design based on acombining
solid state based CZT detectors, focused pin-hole collimation, stationary data
acquisition and 3D reconstruction, to improve workflow, dose management, and
overall image quality. Alcyone's heightened sensitivity and zero equipment motion
improves both image quality and energy resolution, enabling the potential for
new clinical applications including 3D dynamic acquisitions and simultaneous
dual isotope imaging.
With GE Healthcare's next-generation Alycone technology available
on GE Healthcare's revolutionary cardiac imaging scanners, Discovery NM 530c
and Discovery NM 570c, clinicians are able to gather image data much more quickly.
Unlike conventional nuclear imaging, all views are acquired simultaneously during
a fully stationary SPECT acquisition, eliminating equipment movement during
the scan. Focused multi-pinhole collimation has been strategically positioned
to view cardiac anatomy and pathology with greater clarity and speed, resulting
in scan times as short as three minutes.
With conventional nuclear cardiac imaging, a patient must
hold their arms above their head for two scanning procedures that take between
25-30 minutes each with an interval of three hours. With the Discovery NM530c,
the scanning time is reduced to 3-5 minutes for each scanning procedure reducing
the time taken for patient procedure drastically. Alcyone technology also allows
a reduction of up to 50 per cent in the radio-isotope being administered to
the patient for cardiac scanning. This reduction in time can be less painful,
and possibly reduce any patient movement due to the pain or uncomfortable positioning,
causing artifacts in the scan. A shorter, more comfortable scan has the opportunity
to improve image quality, allowing clinicians to be more confident in their
diagnosis. "The Discovery NM 530c offers dose reduction, the potential
for more accurate identification of triple-vessel cardiac disease, and a cost-effective
investigation tool for myocardial blood flow. Nuclear Cardiology is the most
efficient way of detecting cardiac diseases early," said Dr Vikram Lele,
Head of the Department, Nuclear Medicine & PET/ CT, Jaslok Hospital, Mumbai.
"With Discovery NM 530C at Jaslok Hospital, patients will not have to spend
4-5 hours to get a diagnostic cardiac test done and for the hospital, the saved
time can be used for diagnosing more patients," added Dr Lele.
The Discovery NM/CT 570c has the ability to perform a complete cardiac scan
in less than five minutes including myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI), Computed
Tomographic Angiography (CTA), and calcium scoring (CaSC). The Discovery NM/CT
570c also shortens acquisition times, improves dose management, and enables
more convenient patient scheduling in comparison to separate, conventional SPECT
and CT exams.
EH News Bureau
|
