Toshiba shows new technology in echo and cardiac MR and CT enhancements
Toshiba used this week's American College of Cardiology meeting to demonstrate a new cardiovascular imaging application for its Aplio CV ultrasound system, show further enhancements in the field of cardiac MR and announce the 100th installation of its 64 multislice CT scanner.
The Aplio CV's new dyssynchrony imaging (DI) technique previewed at ACC aids cardiologists in the quantification of left ventricular mechanical dyssynchrony by providing a color-coded display that demonstrates the timing of events within the myocardium of the heart. Early mechanical events are green and severely delayed events are displayed red, allowing clinicians to quickly identify the presence and severity of the patient's dyssynchronous events.
In addition, with the use of Toshiba's angle corrected technology, cardiologists have the ability to evaluate the synchronicity not only longitudinally but can use the short axis view to obtain radial information. As a result, the clinical information provided by the DI method improves both the accuracy for evaluating dyssynchrony in heart failure patients as well as determining the most appropriate treatment plan for cardiac resynchronization therapy, including pace maker implantation.
The DI method allows physicians to select the optimal candidates for cardiac resynchronization because quantitative values are now available, Toshiba said.
In addition, Toshiba demonstrated for meeting-goers Aplio CV's comprehensive packages for Doppler measurements and advanced clinical data analysis, including tissue doppler imaging quantification (TDI-Q) software and advanced automated contour tracking (A-ACT). The Aplio CV also features Toshiba's IASSIST remote controller that uses Bluetooth wireless networking technology.
In the cardiac MR domain, Toshiba introduced a new cardiac configuration for the Excelart Vantage 1.5T MRI system. The Vantage CGV configuration features gradient strength of 30 mT/m (milliTesla per meter) and a slew rate of 130 mT/m/ms (milliTesla per meter per millisecond) to meet clinical requirements for advanced cardiac MR examinations.
The Vantage CGV features Toshiba's cardiac/torso SPEEDER coil and software packages designed for high-quality cardiac MRI studies, including respiratory, peripheral pulse and cardiac gating. The new cardiac configuration also enables freeze-frame imaging, differential rate K-space sampling (DRKS), a SPEEDER-compatible, high-resolution, time-resolved MR angiography (MRA) technique with temporal resolution as low as 0.6 seconds when combined with the cardiac SPEEDER coil.
Toshiba demonstrated the advanced cardiovascular applications of its Aquilion 64 CFX multislice CT scanner, which is built on the same platform as the Aquilion 34 CFX. Images of a patient's heart can be captured in between five and 10 seconds. Toshiba's 64-slice scanner uses a 64-row Quantum detector to deliver high-speed, high-resolution cardiovascular imaging with low noise and full anatomical coverage. The detector enables the Aquilion scanner to acquire simultaneous slices of 0.5mm with each 400-millisecond gantry revolution.
Toshiba said it installed its 100th Aquilion 64-slice CT system at the Manhattan Diagnostic Radiology - Cardiovascular Center (MDR0CC), a dedicated heart center in New York City. Toshiba said it expects to make its 500th Aquilion 32/64 system shipment by the end of the year.
The Aplio CV's new dyssynchrony imaging (DI) technique previewed at ACC aids cardiologists in the quantification of left ventricular mechanical dyssynchrony by providing a color-coded display that demonstrates the timing of events within the myocardium of the heart. Early mechanical events are green and severely delayed events are displayed red, allowing clinicians to quickly identify the presence and severity of the patient's dyssynchronous events.
In addition, with the use of Toshiba's angle corrected technology, cardiologists have the ability to evaluate the synchronicity not only longitudinally but can use the short axis view to obtain radial information. As a result, the clinical information provided by the DI method improves both the accuracy for evaluating dyssynchrony in heart failure patients as well as determining the most appropriate treatment plan for cardiac resynchronization therapy, including pace maker implantation.
The DI method allows physicians to select the optimal candidates for cardiac resynchronization because quantitative values are now available, Toshiba said.
In addition, Toshiba demonstrated for meeting-goers Aplio CV's comprehensive packages for Doppler measurements and advanced clinical data analysis, including tissue doppler imaging quantification (TDI-Q) software and advanced automated contour tracking (A-ACT). The Aplio CV also features Toshiba's IASSIST remote controller that uses Bluetooth wireless networking technology.
In the cardiac MR domain, Toshiba introduced a new cardiac configuration for the Excelart Vantage 1.5T MRI system. The Vantage CGV configuration features gradient strength of 30 mT/m (milliTesla per meter) and a slew rate of 130 mT/m/ms (milliTesla per meter per millisecond) to meet clinical requirements for advanced cardiac MR examinations.
The Vantage CGV features Toshiba's cardiac/torso SPEEDER coil and software packages designed for high-quality cardiac MRI studies, including respiratory, peripheral pulse and cardiac gating. The new cardiac configuration also enables freeze-frame imaging, differential rate K-space sampling (DRKS), a SPEEDER-compatible, high-resolution, time-resolved MR angiography (MRA) technique with temporal resolution as low as 0.6 seconds when combined with the cardiac SPEEDER coil.
Toshiba demonstrated the advanced cardiovascular applications of its Aquilion 64 CFX multislice CT scanner, which is built on the same platform as the Aquilion 34 CFX. Images of a patient's heart can be captured in between five and 10 seconds. Toshiba's 64-slice scanner uses a 64-row Quantum detector to deliver high-speed, high-resolution cardiovascular imaging with low noise and full anatomical coverage. The detector enables the Aquilion scanner to acquire simultaneous slices of 0.5mm with each 400-millisecond gantry revolution.
Toshiba said it installed its 100th Aquilion 64-slice CT system at the Manhattan Diagnostic Radiology - Cardiovascular Center (MDR0CC), a dedicated heart center in New York City. Toshiba said it expects to make its 500th Aquilion 32/64 system shipment by the end of the year.