Fusion Imaging System Designed for Standalone MR and Hybrid PET/MR Imaging

New whole body positron emission tomography/magnetic resonance (PET/MR) technology provides increased economic value because it is a sequential imaging system that has a similar clinical workflow experience to PET/computed tomography (CT), the current standard for hybrid imaging.

Moreover, the system is designed so the patient table rotates between each modality to scan a patient, thereby enabling the system to perform both standalone MR and hybrid PET/MR studies. This provides added flexibility by eliminating the need to invest in multiple scanners while decreasing throughput time and improving patient comfort since the patient can remain on the same table for both tests.

Philips Healthcare (Best, The Netherlands) announced 510(k) clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the company’s first commercially available whole body PET/MR imaging system, the Ingenuity TF PET/MR. This innovative platform should revolutionize how medicine is practiced in the future by helping clinicians and researchers study novel customized medicine and treatments for oncology, cardiology, and neurology. The system was presented at the 97th annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA), November 27-December 2, 2010.

It was previously thought that PET and MR scans were incompatible; however, Philips overcame the enormous technical obstacles, through advances in technology, to create a new class of hybrid imaging that should push the boundary of what is possible in imaging. The system is designed to provide a cutting-edge platform well into the future by simplifying the addition of new technologies as they become available.

Studies on the Ingenuity TF PET/MR have shown that bringing high fidelity PET and MR imaging together provides high quality diagnostic images. “The PET/MR system will be useful to practitioners because of the highly anatomical and contrast images that can be acquired when you combine functional MR images with the metabolic information acquired by PET,” said Zahi Fayad, PhD, professor of radiology and medicine (cardiology), and director, Translational and Molecular Imaging Institute, at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine (New York, NY, USA).

Clinical cases have already shown the benefits of being able to superimpose PET over MR images to help detect abnormalities in various organs. Previously, this was not possible because the two studies took place at different times, with different conditions and with different patient positions. In addition to the possibility of expanding clinical prospects as an advanced research tool, the technology could also be used in a clinical setting to support a patient’s entire care cycle process from detection or diagnosis to long-term disease management.

The system features Philips’ proprietary time-of-flight (TOF) technology, Astonish TF, a technology for PET scanners that is designed to enhance image quality by reducing noise and providing increased sensitivity. It is combined with an excellent soft-tissue contrast of 3T MR to image disease as it proliferates in soft tissue.

“Over the years, the introduction of new medical imaging technologies has helped to expand clinical horizons,” said Gene Saragnese, executive vice-president and CEO, imaging systems, for Philips Healthcare. “The Ingenuity TF PET/MR is a state-of-the-art platform that will remain state-of-the-art as it continues to evolve over time to provide robust research and clinical value. This will change the way health care is practiced in the future.”

Mount Sinai and University Hospitals/Case Western Reserve University (Cleveland, OH, USA) will house the first Philips combined, whole-body PET/MR systems in the United States. “We are specifically interested in PET/MR because the combination is expected to provide a more advanced understanding of the processes taking place in vascular beds,” said Dr. Fayad.

With the program formally launched in 2007, Philips’ PET/MR system is the embodiment of hybrid imaging, a major trend that is a growth driver of imaging procedure volumes. Philips was the first company to bring a PET/MR system to market when CE Mark in Europe was earned in January 2011. With FDA clearance, the system can now be marketed in the world’s largest healthcare market.

Related Links:
Philips Healthcare