The FINANCIAL — At the Society of Nuclear Medicine this year, GE Healthcare is introducing the latest addition to its Nuclear Medicine 600 series with a new performance SPECT/CT system—the Optima NM/CT 640 — that offers nuclear medicine physicians the optimal balance of image quality, patient dose efficiency and low total cost of ownership.
Based on the innovative 600 series SPECT technology found in the Discovery* NM630, this system integrates the latest generation general purpose camera with a newly developed 4 slice CT designed for hybrid rather than standalone CT use. The CT, available in 2.5mm and 5mm slice thicknesses to optimize dose and resolution required for particular procedures, offers clinicians confidence with routinely low CT dose at 1-2 mSv for a 40cm abdomen CT scan.
The Optima NM/CT 640 can be fully upgraded on location from a Discovery NM630 SPECT only system, and may be upgraded in the future to a 16 slice Discovery* NM/CT 670, expanding not only its clinical capability, but offering the potential for research use. This upgradeability helps protect clinicians’ and healthcare providers’ investments as the needs of their department evolve.
With its small footprint (5.7m x 3.6m) the Optima NM/CT 640 requires minimal renovation and installation costs. According to the General Electric Company, with the benefit of optimized CT power, shielding and control room requirements are often eliminated; saving as much as $100,000 compared to higher CT powered systems.
“At GE Healthcare, we are dedicated to pushing nuclear medicine to its full potential and investing in its future,” said Nathan Hermony, general manager, Nuclear Medicine, GE Healthcare. “We’re focused on developing equipment that helps customers address the challenges they are confronted with every day – high image quality, low dose and short exam times. Adding the Optima NM/CT 640 to our portfolio helps us strengthen this position, allows customers to upgrade as their needs expand, and continues to benefit clinicians and their patients.”
Adding all the benefits of the Xeleris* Workstation with the Evolution technology to the Optima NM/CT 640 reduces the trade-offs that are often required between acquisition time, dose and image quality. By allowing clinicians to feel confident in their diagnosis, when reducing time or injected patient dose by up to 50 percent in most scanning procedures while still maintaining excellent image quality.
The advanced Xeleris workstation—which integrates new and existing nuclear medicine equipment, including legacy GE and non-GE devices—is designed to provide consistent results and enhanced workflow. Xeleris can keep clinicians connected to images and applications from PACS and PCs with their institution and remotely.
The Optima NM/CT 640 is engineered to accommodate more patients than previous generation nuclear medicine systems. With its 28” (70cm) wide bore and table capable of handling patients up to 500lbs. (227 kilograms), the Optima NM/CT 640 provides access to a wide variety of patients.
“Building off of our extensive experience in SPECT/CT, the advances we’ve made to our Infinia Hawkeye 4 platform and incorporating the SPECT technology of our Discovery NM630 camera, we’re striving to give our customers unsurpassed diagnostic confidence,” added Hermony.
GE Healthcare believes in nuclear medicine as a powerful diagnostic tool that is efficient, precise and sophisticated and we’re dedicated to harnessing its power. We have a strong vision for the future and with continued investment in technology advancements like the Optima NM/CT 640 and breakthroughs like CZT. In the end it’s a commitment from a global company that’s dedicated to solving big challenges everywhere – all for the benefit of clinicians and their patients.
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