Siemens Highlights Molecular Imaging Solutions for Cardiology, Oncology and Neurology

Siemens Medical Solutions has showcased the comprehensive molecular imaging portfolio at the 2006 Society of Nuclear Medicine Annual Meeting (SNM), held June 4-7 in San Diego (booth #318).

Siemens sees the evolving field of molecular medicine as a means to move healthcare from treating illness to promoting health through efficient prevention, accurate diagnosis, personalized therapy, and high quality care, explains Michael Reitermann, president, Molecular Imaging Division, Siemens Medical Solutions.

Molecular imaging is a key transforming technology in this evolution, and Siemens has made tremendous strides in this arena since its acquisition and integration of CTI Molecular Imaging in May 2005.

"The past year has shown the tremendous promise of the Siemens Molecular Imaging organization and we're proud to have demonstrated our commitment to the future of personalized medicine," said Reitermann.

"It's obvious that a passion for innovation is indeed in Siemens' genes as we actively look to leverage innovations in areas that include oncology, neurology and cardiology."

Molecular imaging's ability to provide anatomical and functional detail at the cellular level can impact these areas because treatment and survival are dependent upon early, accurate diagnosis and monitoring.

Siemens' molecular imaging technologies, including clinical and preclinical imagers, advanced applications and biomarkers, are enabling clinicians and researchers around the world to effectively treat within and further explore these areas.

"Siemens' solutions are driving research from the bench to the bedside, where it is most needed to increase the quality of healthcare delivery, while reducing costs," said Reitermann.

Siemens will highlight molecular imaging solutions suited for a variety of environments at this year's SNM, including:

Oncology: Hybrid imaging solutions such as the Biograph™ family of PET-CT systems and the Symbia^® family of SPECT-CT scanners produce true clarity with unmatched image quality and resolution, offering enhanced diagnostic confidence from initial diagnosis to therapy planning, staging and follow-up.

In addition, the company's hybrid imaging systems are enhanced by software suites such as the syngo^® MultiModality Workplace, which offers intuitive post processing and advanced visualization.

Syngo TrueD™, for example, is a tool that is designed to enable physicians to co-register and compare patient scans from different points in time, such as pre- and post- therapy.

Cardiology: Siemens claims that, true efficiency and integration are achieved with its cardiology solutions, including c.cam™, e.cam^®, Symbia SPECT, Symbia SPECT-CT, and Biograph PET-CT systems.

Siemens' molecular imaging solutions provide cardiologists with functional information such as wall motion, myocardial perfusion, and in some cases plaque characterization, as well as morphological information, such as the presence of coronary calcifications and detailed cardiac anatomy.

Workflow enhancements to the Symbia line of hybrid imagers include automatic and integrated collimator changing options, as well as an automatic quality control option that automates all daily, weekly and monthly quality control needs of the system.

Siemens Biograph 64 with the TruePoint PET-CT technology package performs high-resolution CT angiography and myocardial perfusion and viability in a single exam.

These technologies, combined with advanced visualization tools such as syngo CardioFusion, optimize the clinical cardiac workflow and enable enhanced diagnostic capabilities.

Neurology: In addition to hybrid technologies, which are gaining momentum in the neurological environment, sophisticated computer-aided brain function analysis tools like syngo Scenium facilitate neurological evaluation by enabling automatic correlation of a patient study with an average brain for assessment of abnormalities.

Other advancements include imaging biomarkers that will help physicians detect both beta-amyloid plaques and neuronal tangles to predict the onset of dementia and neurological disorders - often before symptoms appear.

Preclinical Imaging: Siemens' preclinical, multimodality imaging solutions offer a upgradeable platform as well as a comprehensive suite of analysis applications.

Siemens' preclinical solution, Inveon™, is a modular concept that is desigend to offer complete flexibility, enabling PET, SPECT, and CT data acquisition.

Inveon's suite of research tools can help facilitate basic research, as well as the drug development process, empowering researchers to identify specific biological processes, monitor the efficacy of compounds, and measure the effects of disease progression over time.

Advanced Services: Tying it all together, Siemens Molecular Imaging (MI) University, a fundamental part of MI LifeNet - Siemens' customer care initiative - provides a substantive training resource for Siemens' customers.

Designed to be used by the interpreting physician, referring physician and technologist, MI University demonstrates the benefits of hybrid PET-CT and SPECT-CT systems, including when and how hybrid imaging influences patient management, through access to valuable clinical data and detailed case studies; video lectures; product information; and a tool for information exchange among peers.