Toshiba unveils 320-slice CT, Philips offers 256

Toshiba America Medical Systems has been talking for years about the development of a 256-slice CT. This morning, the company outdid itself, introducing a 320-element detector onboard its FDA-cleared Aquilion One. The announcement came as the exhibit floor opened, just hours before Philips Medical Systems unveiled a 256-slice CT, its Brilliance iCT.

Toshiba is targeting early summer 2008 for the commercial release of its 320-element scanner. Philips is planning to begin shipping its 256-slice product in the first quarter of 2009.

Toshiba wants to stop using the number of slices as a means for benchmarking CT performance. Instead, company executives describe the new capabilities of its Aquilion One as providing dynamic volume CT.

Marquee studies in the Toshiba booth - one in neuro, the other in cardiac imaging - demonstrate the temporal resolution possible with its new system. The detector spans a width of 16 cm and rotates once every 350 milliseconds. A single pass of the brain provides the volumetric data to produce a CT angiogram, venogram, digital subtraction angiogram, and whole-brain perfusion images. A whole heart can be captured in a single rotation, although functional data require scanning for a full heart beat.

Similarly, Philips is positioning its iBrilliance as the means for quickly generating high-quality whole-organ coverage. Philips' new scanner rotates four times per second, completing an entire heart exam in two beats, according to the company.

Both Toshiba and Philips are stressing technologies to keep patient dose in check. Each claims dose reduction up to 80%.

Just as Brilliance iCT allows Philips to leap to the front of the CT pack, a new 64-slice system will allow the company to handle demand for the previous industry benchmark. Philips has shipped more than 30 of its 64-slice CT systems with Essence technology.

This new Essence technology, featuring newly designed x-ray tube, detector, and reconstruction design elements, is included in both Philips systems. Toshiba's Aquilion One includes a new detector, gantry, and x-ray tube, as well as software for reconstructing the data.

Steering away from the number of slices as a means for benchmarking CT performance, Toshiba introduced a 320-element detector onboard its Aquilion One CT scanner. Stroke protocol shows pure arterial and venous anatomy displayed as a single fused volume. (Provided by Toshiba)