Cutting-Edge PET/CT Scanner Is Clinically Operational

The world’s first clinicallyoperational molecular imager with lutetium oxyorthosilicate (LSO) technology—thebiograph LSO, manufactured by Siemens Medical Solutions—has produced aprecisely registered, combined positron-emission tomography (PET)/computedtomography (CT) image in 7 minutes at the Hong Kong Baptist Hospital. Thebiograph LSO imager uses the high-speed properties of LSO as the PETscintillator to provide shorter scan times and unmatched patient throughput.

The biograph LSO merges three components—the ECAT ACCEL PETscanner, the SOMATOM Emotion spiral CT scanner, and syngo multimodality software—intoa powerful scanning device that creates a precisely registered molecular imagein 15 minutes or less. The resulting image makes it possible for oncologists andother health-care providers to view detailed anatomy and the biologicalprocesses of internal organs and living tissue at the molecular level in asingle, noninvasive diagnostic procedure.

In addition to the biograph LSO, the biograph is available with bismuthgermanate (BGO) crystal technology—a proven and economic scintillator forquality high-resolution PET imaging. The first commercial installation of thebiograph with BGO technology was completed last fall at Memorial Sloan-KetteringCancer Center in Manhattan.