The Philips 256-slice Brilliance iCT scanner is now commercially available, providing 8 centimeters of coverage, covering the entire heart in two scans and including a rotation speed of 0.27 seconds with 120 kw of power.
The Brilliance iCT scanner, now four times more powerful than a 64-slice CT, allows radiologists to produce high-quality images with exceptional acquisition speed, including complete coverage of the heart and brain, while incorporating Philips technology that has reduced radiation doses by up to 80 percent.
Brilliance iCT features Philips Essence technology, consisting of new X-ray tubes, detectors and reconstruction design elements. This technology can provide detailed and clear 3D images of an entire organ, including the heart and brain, and can also show changes over time. All images also can be accessed on any computer in a hospital or by colleagues and researchers remotely, to make it easier for the whole team to share information. To date, more than 30 CT systems with Essence technology have been shipped.
The Brilliance iCT scanner is also designed to reduce patients’ exposure to X-rays. The scan is much quicker, as the machine’s X-ray emitting gantry – the giant ring-shaped part that surrounds the patient – can rotate four times in a single second, which is 22 percent faster than current systems, according to the company.