The FDA has cleared Canon Medical Systems to market a high-resolution CT system. Canon claims the scanner has twice the resolution of existing CT systems, enabling healthcare professionals to visualize disease in greater detail.
Officials at the FDA have signed off on the use of the Aquilion Precision device in the acquisition of cross-sectional volumes of the whole body, including the head. The device is based on Aquilion Prime, a CT scanner that received FDA clearance in 2014.
Aquilion Precision and Prime feature similar normal resolution acquisition modes. The big difference lies in the latest device’s ability to dial up the resolution.
The newly approved device generates high-resolution images by using 1,792 channels, up from the 896 channels used by the predicate device. The normal and high-resolution modes both use 80 rows of 0.5mm-thick detector channels. To achieve a resolution Canon calls “super high”, the scanner uses 160 rows of 0.25mm-thick detector channels.
Canon has also added a 1,024-by-1,024 reconstruction matrix to the Aquilion Precision system. The device also features the 512-by-512 matrix found on the older Aquilion Prime system.
Management at Canon thinks these changes translate into meaningful improvements for healthcare professionals.
“The increased amount of information delivered by the Aquilion Precision opens new doors for healthcare providers. The system delivers higher resolution images than other systems on the market, enabling customers to deliver better patient care,” Dominic Smith, senior director of the CT, PET/CT and MR business units at Canon, said in a statement.
Canon has included its First 3.0 reconstruction algorithm with the CT system. The algorithm is designed to improve high-contrast spatial resolution while limiting the exposure dose.