Involved OEMs

GE has had lower dose radiation in the works for some time - introducing the Color Coding for Kids - an easy reference guide for hospitals to help reduce CT radiation for children - in 2001.

GE established the Featherlight CT Principals which highlights an understanding that children present unique challenges that are met with GE's advanced technologies like Color-Coding for Kids and SnapShot™ Pulse for very low-dose cardiac CT exams, whenever possible.

GE's high definition CT technology ushered in a brand new era in image quality and dose reduction at RSNA 2008 with the Discovery CT750 HD, the world's first high definition low dose CT scanner and the LightSpeed VCT Xte configuration, a new low-dose evolution of the proven LightSpeed VCT. At its core is the proprietary GE Gemstone ™ detector, built with the first new CT scintillator in 20 years and based on a garnet gemstone. With the industry's fastest primary speed and afterglow performance, the Gemstone™ detector enables spatial resolution improvements of up to 33% for routine body imaging over today's existing product. According to Dr. Jean-Louis Sablayrolles, MD, Centre Cardiologique du Nord, Saint Denis, France "With the Discovery CT750 HD, we have been able to significantly reduce radiation dose while, at the same time, improve image quality." Dr. Sablayrolles' patients are benefiting from dose reductions of 30 to 50% across routine applications in CT Colonography, Abdominal, Vascular and Cardiac imaging. "We have earned the respect of clinicians by manufacturing CT systems with dose optimization features. This is an important endeavor that will continue to receive our highest level of commitment, says Gene Saragnese, Vice President and General Manager of GE's Molecular Imaging and CT business. "But the true innovation comes from the increases in image quality we can deliver, simultaneously. Quite simply, we've incorporated strong feedback from our clinical partners to unleash the customer-driven future of CT -- CT re-imagined."

Meanwhile, Philips Healthcare hasn't been standing still when it comes to CT pediatric scanning. The family of Philips CT scanners has a series of dose savings tools built-in, and with a long line of dose reducing technologies and solutions; Philips has been at the forefront in dose-saving technologies for many years. The latest technology from Philips is the Brilliance iCT featuring an Eclipse collimator, Step & Shoot scanning and various filters sized for infants, that all support ALARA (As Low As Reasonably Achievable).

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