Remember last RSNA? The splashy launches of all those sexy CT machines like the Aquilion One and Brilliance iCT and so on?  Remember the excitement about the 256- slice, lower dose, capture an organ in a single rotation and all that? …. Well, this year, the focus is on the opposite…sort of “less can be more…. eventually.” Take Philips for example. The company is offering their Brilliance iCT SP (scalable platform) this year. It’s a 128-slice machine…but with the ability to upgrade to 256-slices when needed. And, it’s more affordable, of course, than the 256-slice we met last year. …We talked rationale for this debut. A Philips spokesperson said it’s all about the economy – providers are cautious about investing; yet they don’t want to buy something that works for 2009 only. So the upgradeable solution makes sense. Invest less now…and when times get better you have the flexibility to get more – the full 256-slice capability. …Economics rule in the CT arena. 

My day began with a news conference in the RSNA newsroom, which hosts a series of daily media presentations prior to the opening of the tradeshow floor. One of today's talks discussed how portable CT increased the chance of stroke survival and recovery at North Shore Medical Center-Salem Hospital. David B. Weinreb, M.D., lead author, talked about the three-hour window upon ER arrival of potential accute stroke patients to receive IV tissue plasminogen activator, or tPA. Before the drug is administered, a head CT must be performed to rule out brain hemmorage. The problem his department encountered was that the average request-to-scan time took longer than the recommended 25 minutes. This, in part, was because the CT scanner was housed in an entirely different building, to which it took 11 minutes to commute. A portable CT reduced request-to-scan times at the 280-bed community hospital from 34 minutes to 15 minutes, a reduction of 54 percent. Weinreb and co-author James E. Stahl, M.D., concluded that the primary barrier to tPA administration at their facility wasn't the number of neuroradiologists or CT scanners but rather request-to-scan times. Perhaps other community hospitals can learn from North Shore's experience and consider the benefits -- and potential risks -- in bringing the modality to the patient instead of vice versa..

Spent much of my day in Lakeside Center aka East Building also referred to as Hall D. Call it what you will (and let me know when they settle on a single name for the venue!), several vendors were not so sure they wanted to be placed in this “new” exhibit area. The trepidation: Is it too off the beaten path to pull in the booth traffic? (Kind of like those friends of mine who want to live in Manhattan but wind up in Brooklyn – they’re afraid no one will ever visit. Typically, they’re right.) But, East-Hall D folks got nothing to worry about based on what I saw – and it’s only Sunday. …So what did I discover in the East today? Siemens booth (3x bigger than my NYC-studio apartment) had plenty of traffic. In fact, it was packed. I found something of excellent value to those involved with Pediatric imaging. Siemens’ new SOMATOM Definition Flash is a dual-source CT scanner that, well, works in a flash. For example, it can do complete scans of the entire chest region in just 0.6 seconds. Best of all for Pediatric patients (and all patients, for that matter) – the dose reduction. According to the company, the system requires only a fraction of the radiation dose that systems previously required to scan even tiny details, but faster than ever. …A new solution that really makes a difference in dose reduction. Good for all patients, especially the littlest ones. More on Eastern Discoveries later.