Despite efforts in recent years to reduce the number of deaths caused by breast cancer it is still the most common cancer occurring in women. Approx. 47,500 new cases of the disease appear in Germany per year, a situation comparable with other European countries and with the USA. In 2004 alone, 17,592 women died from the sequela of a breast carcinoma (Federal Statistics Office statistics on…
Ever heard this from a patient? 'Wouldn't it be great if it was in colour.' It's true; B mode lacks the glamour of Doppler. We're guilty of it ourselves, we love Doppler. How frequently do we hear 'did you put colour on that'? When was the last time you asked 'how much temporal smoothing did you use'? And yet every time I watch others scan I witness Sonographers scanning from various angles,…
In recent years MR angiography techniques have steadily created new possibilities in patient studies. The lack of radiation exposure and the fact that these new techniques are non-invasive, or at most minimally invasive, are just two of the obvious benefits. And in particular, within the last few years contrast-enhanced MR angiography has become an ever more preferred tool. This requires…
Ischaemic stroke accounts for 80-85% of all cerebrovascular accidents and causes considerable morbidity and mortality, thereby placing a significant burden on western societies. In the UK alone, stroke costs amount to 10.4 billion EUR annually. These events commonly are a consequence of systemic atherosclerotic disease and with the internal carotid arteries supplying 75% of cerebral blood flow,…
The advent of multislice computed tomography has made coronary artery imaging with computed tomography (CT) a clinical reality. When a CT scanner with 16 detector rows is used, scan times are within the breathholding capabilities of most patients. The latest generation of CT scanners with 64 detector rows has reduced the scan time to 6-10 seconds, which is suitable for examining all but the most…
Ongoing refinement of modern helical multi-slice CT (MSCT) scanners offers the opportunity for very high temporal and spatial resolution thin-slice data set acquisition. The reconstruction techniques offered (multisegment reconstruction) result in improved temporal resolution down to 40-200 ms and thus also reducing motion artifacts. The SURECardio software package makes possible optimum studies…
Coronary stenting is the most common way of treating symptomatic ischaemic cardiopathy and stenosis of venous bypasses. Restenosis actually occurs in 30% of patients treated with non-medicated stents while "drug eluting" stents have reduced the incidence of restenosis by approximately a quarter and have proved particularly effective in diabetic patients and in the treatment of lesions…
Radiotherapy treatment planning relies on transversal CT images. They form a basis for treatment planning, dose calculation and increasingly the plan localization for external radiation therapy, called CT simulation. A dedicated CT scanner for radiotherapy plan simulation is one of the most essential pieces of equipment in a modern radiotherapy department. In contrast to external beam…
With 715 beds, the University Hospital Maastricht is one of the leading hospitals in the Netherlands. The modern building offers 22 operating theatres and in 2005 24,362 patients were admitted. Due to rotating staff systems and multidisciplinary responsibilities in diagnostic imaging departments in large hospitals like the University Hospital Maastricht, the workflow has to be as easy as possible…
Following the installation of a 0.5-T superconducting magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system at our hospital in 1987, we have been performing a large number of examinations as a key regional hospital serving the city of Muroran, Hokkaido, and surrounding areas. However, compared with more recently developed MRI systems, 0.5-T systems tend to have poorer image quality and a restricted range of…
"Genetic ultrasound" is a refined technique in prenatal diagnostics. It aims to estimate as accurately as possible and non-invasively, the individual risk of a fetal chromosome abnormality. In conventional prenatal sonography (malformation screening) conspicuous fetal malformations are searched for selectively; naturally chromosomal anomalies of the fetus cannot be detected in this…
Tissue Doppler Imaging (TDI) is an emergingnon-invasive ultrasound technique that makes it possible to measure velocities at any point of the ventricular wall during the cardiac cycle. Over the last ten years, TDI has been proposed as a feasible and useful imaging tool that provides information on regional wall motion dynamics.
We have succeeded in developing the first selenium-based flat panel X-ray detector for digital fluoroscopy and radiography. This flat panel X-ray detector efficiently captures X-rays that have passed through the patient's body and converts them directly to digital dynamic and static images. It has been confirmed that images with high spatial resolution and contrast can be obtained. The detector…
For the production of medical technology products more and more companies take enviromental protection and energy efficiency into consideration. Siemens Medical Solutions e.g. ensures with a holistic concept that the products not only match high ecological demands during production, but also in operation and beyond shutdown.
Endoscopic Ultrasound with Fine Needle Aspiration Biopsy (FNAB) capability is relatively new for Toshiba. Recently the company has introduced a transducer enabling gastroenterologists to perform these kinds of examinations. Dr. Paul Fockens (PhD), Director of Endoscopy at the Academic Medical Centre (AMC) of the University of Amsterdam, is an expert in this field. He has been Director of…
In 1999, the Aquillion/MULTI and Asteion/MULTI multi-slice systems with highly integrated 34-channel detector system, both consisting of a total of 30,464 detector elements, were introduced. On the basis of such a structured detector matrix, a new image reconstruction procedure was used. This so called MUSCOT (Multislice Conebeam Tomography) procedure made the dream of an isotropic voxel in the…
Lung cancer is the main cause of deaths due to cancer in human males and the incidence is constantly increasing. A cure rate of only 10% has been reported because most neoplastic lesions are diagnosed too late. However, when lung cancer is diagnosed early and surgical resection performed (stage 1 cancer), 5-year survival is significantly improved and may reach 70%.
The use of state-of-the-art helical CT scanners allows for ultra fast examination of larger regions of the body. Due to the short examination time, optimum utilization of the intravenous contrast medium bolus is of extreme importance. The Sure Start function grants this in a very simple way.
Along with a high local resolution, the cardiac CT imaging also requires a high time resolution where the image data acquisition must be synchronised with the cardiac cycle by means of parallel ECG recording, and the measuring volume must be acquired in a single breathhold cycle. The multi-slice CT copes well with these requirements as it allows for acquiring continuous volume data sets of the…
Even today, 105 years later, the X-rays have not lost their fascination and importance. The discovery of X-rays in November 1895 by the physicist Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen introduced the 'X-ray era' and caused great change in all areas of life. One of the most fascinating fields of research is the analysis of works of art by means of X-rays. The 'anatomical structure', i.e. the composition of the…
The introduction of a new generation of microbubbles has created opportunities for ultrasound, and this is particularly true in the liver, where study of the arterial, venous and sinusoidal phases with an agent such as SonoVue at low ultrasound power levels (Iow mechanical index, MI) provides unique information. Similar diagnostic advantages can be obtained in diseases of the kidneys, spleen and…
In today's high end diagnostics and clinical research ultrasound systems are required that combine outstanding performance with excellent ease of use. With APLlO, Toshiba has developed a new platform that meets the highest demands for diagnostic confidence and workflow optimization. It is developed based on a groundbreaking new system architecture. This has made the implementation of numerous…
There are a number of problems in contrast imaging using LevovistTM contrast agent. In Doppler mode, the problems are poor resolution and large areas of blooming. In 2nd harmonic imaging and pulse inversion imaging, there are problems related to tissue harmonic imaging (THI) because Levovist requires a high mechanical index (MI). THI increases under high-MI conditions, and THI interferes with…
Endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) is the combination of ultrasound and endoscopy, which allows placement of high-frequency transducers close to the intestinal wall and adjacent structures. As EUS enters its third decade, it is used for locoregional staging of many upper gastrointestinal malignancies, including cancers of the oesophagus, stomach, duodenum, ampulla of Vater, extrahepatic bile ducts and…
The evaluation of the size and function of the left ventricle in patients with suspected heart disease is a central diagnostic problem. In contrast to other methods of evaluating left-ventricular function (e.g., angiocardiography, right-sided heart catheterization, radionuclide ventriculography or MRI), transthoracic echocardiography is a widespread and readily available procedure that is not…