Philips adds to molecular imaging line

Jun 21, 2004

PHILADELPHIA – Philips Medical Systems has introduced a number of new product offerings at this year's annual meeting of the Society of Nuclear Medicine, highlighted by its Precedence hybrid SPECT/CT system.

Precedence brings together the Andover, MA-based vendor's Skylight detectors and overhead gantry system with its Brilliance CT platform. Precedence will be available in two different flavors: a 16-slice system that can handle cardiology or standalone CT applications, and a six-slice scanner suitable, for example, for oncology applications, said Ian Farmer, vice president of SPECT and PET.

The 16-slice version will have an end-user price of approximately $1.4 million, with the six-slice version costing approximately $1.1 million, Farmer said. Precedence, which has received Food and Drug Administration 510(k) clearance, will begin beta testing at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore in December and is expected to begin commercial shipping in early 2005.

Philips also introduced JETStream Workspace, a work-in-progress nuclear medicine workstation software package. Employing the firm's Vequion user interface, JETStream Workspace allows users to perform image display, processing, review, reporting, and image archiving on one environment, according to the vendor. It is scheduled for release next month.

Philips' Forte gamma camera has also undergone a facelift with the incorporation of JETStream acquisition to accelerate and streamline the imaging process. Forte also boasts a new table system, a new color scheme, and the ability to perform attenuation correction, Farmer told AuntMinnie.com.

Another work-in-progress software application, Astonish, is an algorithm that provides for advanced image processing for molecular imaging, and is designed to sharpen resolution in total body and other planar procedures, Philips said.

Philips has also incorporated VantagePro attenuation correction technologies on its CardioMD dedicated nuclear cardiology gamma camera

Another work in progress is the Gemini CV PET, which incorporates gated acquisition with Emory Toolbox PETtools for quantitative analysis in PET myocardial perfusion and viability imaging. Gemini CV PET can be combined with any of Gemini CV CT' applications, allowing users to develop an integrated PET/CT program that includes cardiovascular analysis, Philips said.

Philips has also released a new mobile version of its Gemini 16 Power integrated PET/CT offering.

By AuntMinnie.com staff writers
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