SOMATOM Definition EdgeExceeding expectations

Making highly precise plaque differentiation part of your clinical routine will not only improve patient outcome, but also increase process efficiency, as unmistakingly clear findings will drastically reduce the number of discussions about the state of the plaque. Covering greater volumes faster, improving contrast media efficiency in low kV TAVI planning, and introducing reliable, high-speed triple rule-out scanning will expand your institution’s clinical capabilities – and help you exceed the expectations that come with increasingly complex cardiac cases.
How is this possible? Learn more about the new Stellar detector and the STRATON tube.

Emergency scanning is as much about time as it is about image quality.
You will be able to optimize process efficiency with solutions that let you not only improve emergency workflow but also substantially reduce door-to-image time, from pediatric to obese patients. The new SOMATOM Definition Edge enables excellent tissue evaluation, allows for the scanning of pediatric and obese patients without dose discussions, and facilitates a minimized sedation and breath hold with a pitch of 1.7 at 23 cm/sec, so you can reduce door-to-image and optimize your overall emergency workflow. Learn more about the Stellar detector and the STRATON tube, our complete FAST CARE technology, Adaptive 4D Spiral Plus, TrueSignal Technology, and iMAR^{2, 3}.

With around a quarter of therapies adjusted after response assessment, a key challenge in oncology is finding out if the tumor is responsive to therapy. Making therapy response assessment faster, more reliable, and easier to manage, will directly benefit your workforce as well as your patients. Expanding your clinical capabilities with improved, low dose therapy control, and CT-based early tumor identification will benefit your institution both in daily practice and in the long run: the more reliable and dose-efficient the technology gets, the greater its role will become for preventive care, as well.
Find out how ADMIRE⁴, Adaptive 3D Intervention Suite, TwinBeam Dual Energy² and True Dual Energy CT Applications make it happen.

Lower signal, lower voltage, lower dose – the new Stellar detector boosts both patient outcome and risk reduction without any compromise in image quality and diagnostic reliability. Based on full electronic integration, Siemens’ exclusive TrueSignal technology significantly reduces noise and cross-talk. Instead of increasing dose, it makes more efficient use of the initially available quants per voxel. In addition, the Stellar detector provides a homogeneous slice profile with the same spatial resolution and SNR in the entire Field of View. And with no more need to switch bandwidth, it also benefits your patients with an extended dynamic range (HiDynamics), as the detector’s sensitivity for visualizing finer structures, especially for low kV datasets, is substantially increased.

Introducing dose-efficient, comprehensive Dual Energy capabilities to virtually all patients, the new SOMATOM Definition Edge offers greater versatility than any other single source CT system. TwinBeam Dual Energy² allows simultaneous acquisition of high and low kV datasets in a single CT scan, enabling high-contrast dynamic applications. To create two X-ray spectra simultaneously from one tube, the STRATON tube assembly system generates a pre-filtered X-ray beam, creating two different x-ray spectra before it reaches the patient. With all syngo.via applications now available for all single source DE cases, image acquisition is possible for all rotation times (up to 0.28 seconds), for the full field-of-view of 50 cm, and with the full number of projections for both spectra.

Innovation leader Siemens has been at the forefront of radiation reduction for decades – scans at sub-mSv doses have found their way into clinical routine. However, there isn’t one dose level that fits everyone. Every clinical question and every single patient require individual, meticulous dose management. Siemens’ comprehensive Combined Applications to Reduce Exposure (CARE), in combination with the STRATON tube and iterative reconstruction methods SAFIRE⁵ and ADMIRE⁴, enable low kV imaging down to 70 kV, enhance contrast media for advanced diagnostic information, and allow for substantial dose savings. In addition, the Adaptive Dose Shield eliminates overradiation pre- and post-spiral to the patient by dynamically moving shields into
place on the X-ray tube – blocking clinically irrelevant dose in every single spiral acquisition.

Lower signal, lower voltage, lower dose – the new Stellar detector boosts both patient outcome and risk reduction without any compromise in image quality and diagnostic reliability. Based on full electronic integration, Siemens’ exclusive TrueSignal technology significantly reduces noise and cross-talk. Instead of increasing dose, it makes more efficient use of the initially available quants per voxel. In addition, the Stellar detector provides a homogeneous slice profile with the same spatial resolution and SNR in the entire Field of View. And with no more need to switch bandwidth, it also benefits your patients with an extended dynamic range (HiDynamics), as the detector’s sensitivity for visualizing finer structures, especially for low kV datasets, is substantially increased.

The STRATON™ tube with z-Sharp™ and its revolutionary design based on a direct anode cooling eliminate the need for heat storage and results in an unmatched compact design, allowing true temporal resolution of up to 150 ms, and a high isotropic resolution of 0.33 mm at any scan and rotation speed, and at any position within the scan field. This, for instance, allows to significantly reduce motion artifacts of the heart to perform accurate stenosis measurements or stent planning with outstanding precision. It facilitates fast whole body sub-mm imaging at highest pitch revealing outstanding details in long-range vascular studies or polytrauma patients.

With SAFIRE Siemens has set the benchmark on low dose imaging with raw-data based iterative reconstruction. For the first time, raw data (or sinogram data) are actually being utilized in the iterative image improvement process. With this, SAFIRE can achieve a radiation dose reduction of up to 60%⁵. Or instead improve image quality (contrast, sharpness and noise).

SAFIRE in 3 steps:

1. Multiple iterative loops performed in the raw-data domain correct geometrical imperfections and other artifacts
2. Image reconstruction from the “corrected” raw-data
3. Multiple iterative loops performed in the image domain remove image noise for a final and excellent image quality

The lower the dose the more difficult it is to reconstruct images with an adequate image quality. This rule is common in CT. Now with Advanced Modeled Iterative Reconstruction ADMIRE, the newest generation in iterative reconstruction, clinicians and radiologists have access to enhanced image quality with a natural image impression and all clinical applications at a dose level that exceed all expectations. ADMIRE makes integrating iterative reconstruction into daily routine easy: Thick slices are reconstructed at a natural image impression, even from ultra-low dose scans. The reconstructed datasets can easily be stored in PACS or on film.

The new benchmark in single source dual energy – TwinBeam Dual Energy – allows for simultaneous acquisition of high and low kV datasets in a single CT scan, enabling high-contrast dynamic applications. Making dose-efficient, comprehensive Dual Energy capabilities routinely applicable to virtually all patients without compromising on image quality, the new SOMATOM Definition Edge offers greater versatility than any other single source CT system.

The FAST CARE technology suite exceeds expectations in both of CT’s essential dimensions: Getting reliable results with as little radiation exposure as possible, and getting them fast.

FAST applications – our Fully Assisting Scanner Technologies –, make time-consuming and complex procedures faster and more intuitive. Scans will be more reproducible and less prone to errors. FAST Planning, for example, features immediate, organ-based setting of scan and recon ranges with no manual adjustments.

CARE technologies – our Combined Applications to Reduce Exposure –, offer excellent image quality at the right dose level, making CT scanning safer even for the most delicate patients, especially children. The CARE Dose Configurator, for example, allows you to better manage dosage with respect to the patient's anatomy when adjusting scan parameters.

The SOMATOM Definition Edge features Adaptive 4D Spiral Plus for long-range dynamic imaging of up to 48 cm. It exceeds expectations regarding the visualization and evaluation of the entire thoracic aorta in separate phases by capturing the arterial and venous phase in a single scan. So you’re able to not only delineate aneurysms and other vascular diseases, but also to identify the source of bleedings or assess venous thrombosis. It provides full organ coverage in 4D, be it stroke assessment of the brain or body perfusion studies – intelligent filtering with 4D Noise Reduction allows acquisition with up to 50 % lower dose.

The lower the signal, the higher the noise, the poorer the image quality?
Not true anymore. Based on the full electronic integration of the Stellar detector, TrueSignal technology significantly reduces electronic noise, especially in low kV images. The resulting signal-to-noise ratio is improved manyfold, and low-signal datasets benefit from increased sharpness and clarity, as the detector can now differentiate much better between the signal of individual voxels and the surrounding image data.

Metal fillings and implants cause artifacts that often result in undiagnostic image quality, costing time for planning and potentially threatening therapy outcomes. iMAR^2,3 is the industry’s most effective algorhythm focused on the removal of metal artifacts for enhanced diagnostic image quality. The minimal introduction of new interpolation artifacts, and the preservation of natural image impression and edge information will help streamline workflows and improve diagnostic confidence – with iMAR, surgical, prosthetic and dental fillings as well as pacemakers are not hiding insights anymore.