syngo.via FrontierYour gateway to the Siemens research environment

How far can you get with your CT?
The new syngo.via Frontier provides access to powerful research prototypes1 and paves the way for the evaluation of new techniques. It helps you conduct your own research in medical imaging and contributes to the international scientific discussion through a global exchange with other researchers. With the continuous innovation of the CT scanner portfolio and the pioneering platform syngo.via Frontier, Siemens underlines its commitment as partner of science.

Features & Benefits

The new syngo.via Frontier is your gateway to an open research environment. With syngo.via Frontier you obtain direct access to novel research prototypes1 that are seamlessly integrated with your routine syngo.via system. This enables you to simply send data for evaluation and to retrieve your result images for inclusion in an ongoing research study. With the Prototype Store you can easily manage your prototypes and trigger new prototype installations. As of market introduction, Siemens provides access to a set of research prototypes in the fields of cardiovascular and Dual Energy CT. In the future, new prototypes will be made available and the range of available prototypes will be enriched by contributions from external partners. With syngo.via Frontier you obtain access to an international online community that lets you share your experiences with fellow researchers.2 Ambitious users may even design and implement own prototypes to leverage personal research endeavors.3 The syngo.via Frontier users may represent the ideal community to help you test and validate your new developments.   

 

The following research prototypes are available but not intended for clinical use:


Coronary Plaque Analysis
Volumetric quantification and differentiation of lipid, fibrous, and calcified plaques

The new research prototype Coronary Plaque Analysis provides advanced tools to analyze atherosclerotic plaque morphology and to characterize different plaque composites, such as lipid and fibrous. This differentiation may have the potential to assess the vulnerability of atherosclerotic lesions and evaluate strategies to stabilize plaque and tailor patient-specific treatment. Furthermore, the prototype allows you to perform volumetric measurements.

Research prototypes are not intended for clinical use.


Rho-Z-Maps
Tissue differentiation based on electron density and effective atomic number

The new research prototype DE Rho/Z Maps provides advanced algorithms that achieve a direct visualization and quantification of electron density. Furthermore, the corresponding effective atomic number can be shown as a colored overlay. This advanced Dual Energy technique may lead to more reliable planning for radiation therapy and may help to reduce overexposure.

Research prototypes are not intended for clinical use.


Scatter-Plots
Visualization of energy dependencies for analysis of material homogeneity

The new research prototype DE Scatter Plots provides a novel representation of Dual Energy information: the energy dependencies of materials shown within an ROI are visualized graphically. Here, the x- and y-axes represent the low and high energies of a scan, respectively, and the pixels contained within the ROI are distributed accordingly. A mathematical fit of the resulting scatter plot and the derived gradient may help the user to classify the underlying materials and to specify the homogeneity. Furthermore, advanced statistical parameters such as variance or skewness allow the user to analyze the materials in greater detail.

Research prototypes are not intended for clinical use.


3D-Printing

Automated tools help to utilize conventional CT data in order to prepare individual anatomical structures for printing.

Research prototypes are not intended for clinical use.


Skull & Pelvis Unfolding

Fully-automatic unfolding of skull and pelvis.

Research prototypes are not intended for clinical use.


Cardiac Risk Assessment

Semi-automatic pericardial, subcutaneous & visceral volumetric fat quantification

Research prototypes are not intended for clinical use.


Delay Analyzer

This dynamic flow evaluation provides color code representing the time point of maximum contrast

Research prototypes are not intended for clinical use.


Bone Subtraction

Subtraction image highlights local increase/decrease of bone density over time between follow-up scans.

Research prototypes are not intended for clinical use.


Best Contrast
Emphasizes the contrast without increasing the noise.

Research prototypes are not intended for clinical use.

Technical Specifications

The main technical features at a glance:

  • Direct transfer (copy) of images from the clinical syngo.via server to syngo.via Frontier
  • As of market introduction, access to three research prototypes for the fields cardiovascular and Dual Energy CT is offered. The research prototypes are not intended for clinical or diagnostic use and may be available only for a certain time period
  • The prototypes are provided via the built-in Prototype Store, which connects to Siemens Remote Services (SRS) secure online connection1
  • Timely availability of new prototypes as their distribution is independent of the regular syngo.via releases
  • Seamless connection to the prototypes with the locally installed syngo.via client through a direct access from syngo.via’s Advanced Search (browser) and its workflow menu
  • The dedicated hardware for syngo.via Frontier provides simultaneous access for up to two users
  • Executions of complex experimental calculations performed on syngo.via Frontier do not influence the performance of the clinical syngo.via server as the dedicated hardware provides independent resources (CPU, memory, etc.)
  • syngo.via-compliant prototype results may be sent back to the clinical client-server system for easy sharing with colleagues and visualization in syngo.via’s standard tools. Other prototype results can be stored on the local file system
  • Labeling of data and images generated by a prototype (“Not for clinical use”) to clearly identify such images if sent back to the clinical syngo.via server. This allows for a definite differentiation of research results from clinical results on syngo.via
  • Easy management of your syngo.via Research Extension with the Prototype Store (e.g. installation and deletion of prototypes)
  • Creation and implementation of new prototypes with MeVisLab’s Application Development Kit (ADK) for syngo.via Frontier2
    -- MeVisLab’s visual development environment is extended with components for integration with syngo.via Frontier, a basic application framework, basic syngo.via-like user interface (UI) elements3, and development documentation
    -- Algorithms may be integrated as command line applications or implemented as C++ modules4
    -- Optional high performance GPU-based parallel computing possible5