Northside Hospital-Atlanta, a 537-bed acute-care facility, installed the first US SOMATOM Perspective CT system from Siemens Healthcare, Malvern, Pa, in one of its outpatient imaging centers adjacent to the hospital. Developed to enable budget-conscious community hospitals, critical access hospitals, and outpatient centers to extend the range of available examinations to their communities at reduced radiation dose, the SOMATOM Perspective CT system also features enhanced image quality.

Included as a standard option on the SOMATOM Perspective, SAFIRE—sinogram affirmed iterative reconstruction—has a reconstruction speed of up to 15 images per second and helps users reduce patient dose by up to 60% compared to previous filtered back projection techniques, according to the company. Facilitating SAFIRE’s use in daily routine and minimizing exam times, the SOMATOM Perspective also has fully assisting scanner technologies to help simplify and automate complex, time-consuming procedures.

Other features include:

  •  Interleaved volume reconstruction that allows the SOMATOM Perspective to visualize small diagnostic details with information from 128 slices.
  •  Improved temporal resolution for cardiac imaging with the iterative temporal improvement method.
  •  eMode, to determine and automatically select system scan parameters so that the Perspective operates with reduced tube power while maintaining dose, potentially reducing wear on the scanner and increasing its life cycle.
  •  A footprint of 194 square feet making it suitable for installation in small rooms.