GE Healthcare this week announced its Helical Shuttle CT system which is currently in development by a GE research unit. The system recently enabled a professor at Japan’s Kinki University Hospital to perform a dynamic CT angiography (CTA) and full organ perfusion study in one scan, without compromising physiological temporal resolution, GE said.

“The angiographic studies that I obtained using GE’s Helical Shuttle provide excellent quality,” said Takamichi Murakami, professor and chairman of the Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, Kinki University Hospital.  “Helical Shuttle may open up new clinical opportunities such as ‘dynamic blood flow’, which can potentially offer additional clinical information, leading to a new concept called 4D CT Angiography (4D CTA). This additional information may allow us to investigate in detail the relation between tumors and feeding arteries. Furthermore, this information may prove to be very valuable in helping clinicians determine the adequate treatment choice, ablation or medical therapy.”

Helical Shuttle is one example of GE’s “Adaptive Technologies” which the company believes holds great potential as future CT clinical applications.  According to Gene Saragnese, global vice president of Molecular Imaging & CT at GE Healthcare, anatomically adaptive acquisition has the potential to provide clinicians with a promising new diagnostic tool for an array of non-invasive clinical studies.

“Today, GE’s research signifies a step towards breaking the barrier surrounding dynamic CTA and CT perfusion studies, creating new possibilities for a broad range of clinical use in whole organ studies,” said Saragnese.

This new adaptive technology enables the CT table to travel back and forth during scanning with real-time control, and enables Helical Shuttle to achieve wider coverage – up to 120 mm longitudinally, providing whole organ coverage, GE said.

“Currently, CT perfusion studies are limited to only small organs or organ segments,” said Murakami. “Helical Shuttle holds promise to perform whole organ angiographic and physiological assessment in a single scan. The possibilities brought forth by this clinical capability may enhance the way we utilize CT beyond anatomical assessment.”

GE is showcasing results from the Helical Shuttle this week the 8th Annual International Symposium on Multidetector-Row CT, sponsored by Stanford Radiology.