Philips: Shipping 40-slice CT and PET/CT system, launching 64-slice upgrade

Philips Medical Systems has begun shipping its Brilliance 40-slice CT scanner to the global imaging community, for installation in October. In addition, the company announced today it will reveal a 64-slice upgrade package available to all 40-slice systems at the Journées Françaises de Radiologie (JFR) Congress that starts Saturday in Paris.

Philips' Brilliance 40-slice CT scanner has detector coverage of 40-mm, reconstruction speed of up to 40 images per second and 40-channel acquisition. The system was introduced at last year's Radiological Society of North American (RSNA) meeting in Chicago. The 64-slice upgrade option for the 40-slice systems will deliver thin-slice acquisition capabilities to the full 40-mm width of the Brilliance CT detector by increasing the number of simultaneously acquired data acquisition channels to 64, Philips said.

According to the company, the multislice system is already in place at several leading healthcare facilities worldwide and has accumulated information on more than 7,500 patients. Its applications have ranged from routine exams to advanced cardiovascular, pulmonary, neurovascular and trauma applications.

In related shipment news, Philips has begun commercial delivery of its Gemiini PET/CT Scanner with Brilliance 16 Power CT technology, its open PET/CT scanner.

Philips unveiled the scanner configuration in December 2003 and completed installation of the first clinical test sites in June 2004. Philips installed its first commercial Gemini system in August 2003 and now has received more than 75 orders for the product.

Overall, Philips said it now has approximately 250 PET and PET/CT systems installed worldwide.

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