Siemens launches Somatom Scope CT scanner at ECR 2014

At this week's ECR in Vienna, German multimodality vendor Siemens Healthcare is launching a new 16-slice economy-level CT scanner, called Somatom Scope, that's designed to minimize operating costs.

Siemens developed Scope in response to the ongoing cost pressures being felt by imaging facilities around the world, according to Peter Seitz, vice president of marketing in the company's CT business. The goal is to offer an economy-level scanner that not only features a low price, but also low total cost of ownership, he told AuntMinnieEurope.com.

The new Siemens Scope.

The new Siemens Scope.

To that end, Siemens assembled a package of features on Scope into something it's calling eCockpit. Two new eCockpit features are eStart and eSleep. eStart is the product of Siemens research finding that one of the key ways to extend the life of an x-ray tube is to avoid "cold" start-ups -- eStart warms the tube up prior to performing the first scan.

Meanwhile, eSleep reflects Siemens' findings that 16-slice scanners often don't have high patient throughput, as patients are typically routed to more powerful machines. Therefore, eSleep is a sort of controlled shutdown mode that minimizes electrical consumption when the system isn't being used, resulting in 65% less power consumption. Taken together, the eCockpit features should reduce total cost of ownership for Scope users by 35%, according to Siemens.

eCockpit also includes eMode, a gantry operating mode introduced several years ago that enables CT operators to limit stress on the scanner by not using its maximum generator capacity or rotation speed 100% of the time, thus reducing wear and tear on components.

Siemens also designed Scope to fit in rooms as small as 8 sq meters, giving healthcare facilities more flexibility in where to site the scanner. Scope comes in two configurations, one with a 26-kW generator and the other with a 50-kW generator. Gantry rotation speed is between 0.6-0.8 seconds.

The scanner also has a postprocessing workstation based on the company's syngo.via software, called syngo.via Element. Via Element is a single-user-workstation configuration, unlike the client-server design used with syngo.via. About 15 of Siemens' clinical apps are available on the scanner.

Siemens plans to begin shipping Scope in Europe in the middle of this year.