Siemens Unveils World's First High Definition PET-CT, Providing Unprecedented Clarity Through Entire Field Of View

Just as the clarity of high definition television has transformed the entertainment world, Siemens Medical Solutions is redefining the quality of molecular imaging with the introduction of high definition positron emission tomography. Siemens has unveiled HD PET, the world's first and only high definition PET technology to offer consistently sharper and clearly defined images across the entire field of view beginning of June 2007 in the USA. "As the leading innovator in molecular imaging, Siemens raises the bar in innovation yet again by adding high definition to the Biograph TruePoint family of hybrid PET CT systems," said Michael Reitermann, president, Molecular Imaging, Siemens Medical Solutions. "The clarity of HD PET will provide greater specificity and accuracy and will enable physicians to more confidently delineate small lesions - including those in lymph nodes, abdomen, head and neck, and brain- to provide earlier, more targeted treatment."

The clarity achieved by HD PET is the result of a unique and proprietary technology that optimizes the elements of image uniformity, resolution and contrast - that together change the whole picture." The uniform resolution provided by HD PET throughout the field-of-view is a significant step in improving PET image quality," said David Townsend, PhD, director, Molecular Imaging and Translational Research Program, University of Tennessee Graduate School of Medicine, who has worked with Siemens while testing the new HD PET technology. "Historically with PET imaging, intrinsic image quality has been known to degrade with increasing distance from the center of the scanner. HD PET eliminates this effect thus providing increased diagnostic confidence to more accurately resolve peripheral lesions. This, in turn, could potentially improve staging of disease and hence clinical outcome."

source article