Philips Redefines Hybrid Imaging to Simplify Nuclear Medicine and Address Clinician Needs

SALT LAKE CITY, June 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- At this year's Society of Nuclear Medicine (SNM) annual meeting, Royal Philips Electronics (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHI) is highlighting its portfolio in the field of nuclear medicine.  The company will showcase solutions designed to increase diagnostic accuracy, improve patient comfort, augment physician confidence, simplify clinical workflow, and lower lifecycle costs.  

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"With increased demand for improved quality of care and rising healthcare costs, it's more important than ever before to help our customers diagnose and treat patients effectively and efficiently," said Jay Mazelsky, senior vice president and general manager, Computed Tomography and Nuclear Medicine, for Philips Healthcare.  "Philips is determined to simplify nuclear medicine by using clinician insights to drive innovation and deliver solutions that unlock the clinical potential of hybrid imaging and help to improve patient care."  

Philips is a legacy leader in nuclear medicine innovation.  As the first company to launch Time-of-Flight technology, Philips TruFlight™ time-of-flight PET technology measures the actual time difference between the detection of coincident gamma rays for more accurate localization, producing a higher quality image with shorter imaging times and allowing for lower tracer dose amounts in patients, as well as increased diagnostic confidence.  

Philips spectrum of advanced nuclear medicine technologies address the needs of physicians and their oncology, cardiac, neurology or orthopedic patients.  

Because compromise is never an option in healthcare

BrightView XCT, Now with Full Iterative Technology (FIT)

This year at SNM, Philips is showcasing new features to the BrightView XCT, including new Full Iterative Technology (FIT), which makes the BrightView XCT the first and only SPECT/CT system with both iterative SPECT and CT reconstruction capabilities.  The new low-dose, flat-panel CT iterative reconstruction improves localization through better uniformity and less noise leading to improvements in soft tissue image quality for applications such as orthopedic cases.  Available in more than 135 sites worldwide, BrightView XCT addresses the need to keep patient dose low without sacrificing image quality and accuracy.  

Already outfitted with the Philips Astonish advanced reconstruction algorithm, the new FIT further bolsters the only CT platform designed specifically for nuclear medicine.  BrightView XCT Astonish image reconstruction technology provides significant spatial resolution improvement in cardiac SPECT studies compared to SPECT studies using filtered back projection.  With FIT and Astonish, BrightView XCT helps enable low patient X-ray dose levels, high-resolution localization and high-quality attenuation correction with the potential for fewer artifacts and shorter exam times.  Philips will highlight new clinical evidence that Philips' Astonish algorithms for nuclear cardiology help clinicians improve their diagnostic accuracy and increase their diagnostic confidence.

The BrightView XCT has a wide-open gantry and large bore that contributes to a positive patient experience.  It offers the first flat panel X-ray detector to be used for CT imaging in nuclear medicine.  Plus, it's so compact that it fits in the same size room as a small SPECT camera.

Additionally, Philips will articulate the importance of its patented Concurrent Imaging for Philips SPECT systems, including BrightView and BrightView XCT.  Concurrent technology makes image acquisition quicker, makes it easier to work with and evaluate images, and makes it possible to conduct multi-isotope evaluations simultaneously.

Expanding and simplifying clinical capabilities in oncology

GEMINI TF Big Bore PET/CT

Philips innovations are expanding the clinical utility of PET/CT in oncology, allowing healthcare providers the ability to consolidate radiation oncology procedures, increase the potential for greater accuracy and improve scheduling.

The GEMINI TF Big Bore system, now in over 35 sites around the world, offers excellent lesion detectability for diagnosis and staging.  GEMINI TF Big Bore is the world's first Big Bore PET/CT system, combining advanced GEMINI TF PET image quality with market leading Brilliance CT Big Bore performance.  

Future innovations

PET/MR Imaging

Philips will provide updates on clinical studies being conducted using Philips' investigational whole body PET/MR imaging systems at the University of Geneva in Switzerland and Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York.  These studies extend to both oncological and cardiovascular applications of the technology and are designed to take advantage of the soft-tissue contrast capabilities of magnetic resonance imaging.  

Please find additional information on new products showcased at SNM by visiting the Philips Healthcare booth, #521.  Online visitors can visit http://www.philips.com/media.

About Royal Philips Electronics

Royal Philips Electronics of the Netherlands (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHI) is a diversified health and well-being company, focused on improving people's lives through timely innovations. As a world leader in healthcare, lifestyle and lighting, Philips integrates technologies and design into people-centric solutions, based on fundamental customer insights and the brand promise of "sense and simplicity". Headquartered in the Netherlands, Philips employs approximately 116,000 employees in more than 60 countries worldwide. With sales of US 32.3 billion in 2009, the company is a market leader in cardiac care, acute care and home healthcare, energy efficient lighting solutions and new lighting applications, as well as lifestyle products for personal well-being and pleasure with strong leadership positions in flat TV, male shaving and grooming, portable entertainment and oral healthcare. News from Philips is located at www.philips.com/newscenter.

SOURCE Philips Healthcare