Aquilion ONE next generation from Toshiba

Medical imaging enters next level

The ‘world’s best scanner’ just got even better. While Toshiba Medical Systems’ Aquilion ONE has impressed radiologists in recent years further enhancements and technical innovations have taken it onto a new level of performance and added yet another dimension to CT imaging.

Photo: Aquilion ONE next generation from Toshiba

The latest evolution of the leading dynamic volume CT system sees increased ease of use for radiologists and radiographers, better patient safety and comfort as well as outstanding image clarity. Like its predecessor, the next generation of the Aquilion ONE system has the ability to scan entire organs in a single gantry rotation. The 16 cm detector can capture morphology at a single moment in time and eliminates movement artifacts. Patient comfort and safety are optimized by a larger gantry aperture and a newly developed Quantum VI detector, providing the highest light output for optimized dose reduction.

Radiologists who have experienced the Toshiba Aquilion ONE in recent years are impressed by the system’s next generation. Consultant radiologist Dr Russell Bull at Royal Bournemouth Hospital has been using an Aquilion ONE since 2009. At that time, he recalls, the ability to cover a whole organ was new and presented a major leap forward in scanning for his department. “We wondered if it could ever get any better,” he said, “but it did, we have now the Aquilion ONE next generation. It is unbeatable for ease of use, image quality and low radiation.” He saw improved efficiency and throughput. “It increased scan efficiency and the volumetric scanning allowed use of much lower doses of contrast agent”. But as he points out: “Such advances are only relevant when they change the diagnosis or the experience of the patient, the throughput or the cost of procedure. If innovations are just clever they don’t matter, but the Aquilion ONE completely revolutionised our practice.”

Matthew Benbow, Superintendent Technologist at Royal Bournemouth Hospital, confirms that the new Aquilion ONE brought major improvements for his team. The wider bore is more comfortable for patients, especially for those whose movements are restricted. “Our Aquilion ONE with motorized lateral table slide function,” Benbow underlines, “allows the patient to be positioned without physical strain. This is an invaluable feature safeguarding the health, safety and wellbeing of radiographers from a lifting perspective.”

The Toshiba Aquilion ONE next generation has clear benefits across a whole range of innovative applications ranging from musculoskeletal to the lungs. For Professor Alain Blum, Head of the Radiology Department at Service d’Imagerie Guilloz – C.H.U. Hôpital Central Nancy, France, the new system offers “a huge step forward for the evaluation of soft tissues.” Especially in the postoperative follow-up of patients with prosthesis, CT will play an increasingly important role. Since the conventional CT scan is hampered by metal artifacts, new algorithms such as iterative reconstruction and SEMAR will definitely help to minimize those artifacts while providing enhanced image quality –at a much lower dose than ever before. This will surely lead to an increase in CT examinations for patients with hip prosthesis, so far difficult to examine.”

Professor Mathias Prokop, Chairman of the Department of Radiology at Radboud University Medical Center in Nijmegen in The Netherlands, has evaluated ^SURESubtraction Lung. It shows perfusion defects and thus provides direct insight in the effect of embolism on lung perfusion. By providing a perfusion map of the lung it can help clinicians find small emboli they could have missed otherwise. “^SURESubtraction Lung,” Professor Prokop underlines, “is an easy to learn technique with simple scanning procedures and fast processing times that do not burden the workflow. In short, a very powerful technique with outstanding image quality.”

Toshiba's Aquilion ONE next generation marks a major step forward in scanning technology enhancing the entire CT experience for patients and health professionals alike.

29.11.2013