Siemens installs first HD-PET technology at UT Southwestern

Siemens Healthcare has announced the official release and world's first clinical installation of HD-PET technology at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.

The facility will leverage the new Biograph 40 TruePoint(TM) PET-CT system's High-Definition PET technology to offer consistently sharper and clearly defined images across the entire field of view.

Patients treated at UT Southwestern will benefit from the High-Definition PET-CT technology because their physicians will be able to more confidently delineate small lesions.

UT Southwestern always produced excellent PET images, even before HD-PET. But after the installation of Siemens HD-PET technology, the medical center produced even sharper images. Uptake in areas that previously seemed vague is now much clearer with HD-PET. In addition, HD-PET has added no additional processing time as compared to the previous system.

"Adding High-Definition technology to Biograph PET-CT imaging optimizes image uniformity, resolution and contrast, raising the bar in PET-CT imaging in oncology. UT Southwestern will be able to use HD-PET for detection of very small lesions and could provide physicians increased confidence for improved disease staging" said Michael Reitermann, chief executive officer, Molecular Imaging, Siemens Medical Solutions USA, Inc.

By utilizing a proprietary technology, HD-PET can provide high resolution, distortion-free images throughout the entire PET field of view. This improved 2 mm resolution enables physicians to clearly visualize small lesions, from the center to the edges -- a revolutionary benefit unique to Siemens' HD-PET technology.

Adding high definition to PET systems also dramatically enhances contrast. The improvement in signal to noise, which effectively doubles, reveals sharper and clearer images that allow the clinician to better differentiate between healthy and suspicious tissue, which could be useful in cases of obese patients.