Frost & Sullivan Lauds Siemens Healthcare's Unique, Multipurpose Gamma Camera that Sets it Apart from the Competition in the Nuclear Cardiology Market

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Dec. 15, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Based on its recent analysis of the nuclear cardiology market, Frost & Sullivan recognizes Siemens Healthcare with the 2011 North America Frost & Sullivan Product Differentiation Excellence of the Year Award for its IQ-SPECT, a distinct imaging solution. This product not only offers high-quality imaging by achieving maximum counts, but does so in the quarter amount of time taken by conventional single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) systems and with less radiation.

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The system features three components that give the product a competitive edge. First, the system's SMARTZOOM collimators focus on the heart, collecting up to four times more counts than conventional, parallel hole collimators. Second, the cardio-centric orbit acquisition ensures that the heart is always in the SMARTZOOM collimator's magnification zone. Third, a proprietary 3D reconstruction algorithm models the position of each of the 48,000 collimator holes on each detector, enabling sophisticated distant-dependent isotropic (3D) resolution recovery, CT-based attenuation correction (when using SPECT-CT) and energy window-based scatter correction.

These features help IQ-SPECT complete a full SPECT scan in as little as four minutes. The system requires only an additional 60 seconds for CT-based attenuation correction and/or calcium scoring.

"When it comes to imaging the pediatric population, this system provides the flexibility to reduce dosage, while at the same time it can also provide more information for bariatric patients," said Frost & Sullivan Industry Analyst Sangeetha Prabakar. "Furthermore, the short scan times minimize motion artifacts and enhance patient comfort, resulting in excellent image quality."

The addition of the 30-second CT to the SPECT study not only detects a potential ischemia but can also provide details about coronary calcium deposits. This is specifically useful because a timely detection of coronary artery disease (CAD) can aid in preventing a heart attack.

"IQ-SPECT provides value addition and optimization for cardiac imaging in hospitals mainly because the system is organ specific and has evolved to provide complete and rapid cardiac evaluations," said Prabakar. "IQ-SPECT is fully automated, which allows it to image more patients per day and meet the needs of a variety of patients ranging from pediatric to bariatric patients."

Each year, Frost & Sullivan presents this award to the company that has demonstrated superb features and functionality as well as quality and complexity. The recognized company exhibits high levels of customization, excellent product mix and also meets the requirements of its target market.

Frost & Sullivan Best Practices Awards recognize companies in a variety of regional and global markets for demonstrating outstanding achievement and superb performance in areas such as leadership, technological innovation, customer service, and strategic product development. Industry analysts compare market participants and measure performance through in-depth interviews, analysis, and extensive secondary research in order to identify best practices in the industry.

About Siemens Healthcare

The Siemens Healthcare Sector is one of the world's largest suppliers to the healthcare industry and a trendsetter in medical imaging, laboratory diagnostics, medical information technology and hearing aids. Siemens offers its customers products and solutions for the entire range of patient care from a single source – from prevention and early detection to diagnosis, and on to treatment and aftercare. By optimizing clinical workflows for the most common diseases, Siemens also makes healthcare faster, better and more cost-effective. Siemens Healthcare employs some 48,000 employees worldwide and operates around the world. In fiscal year 2010 (to September 30), the Sector posted revenue of 12.4 billion euros and profit of around 750 million euros. For further information please visit: www.siemens.com/healthcare

About Frost & Sullivan

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SOURCE Frost & Sullivan