Fast CT from GE Healthcare

This is a short post dedicated to Knut Torgersen for his birthday. Jeff G pointed me to an article on FastCompany about a new x-ray computed tomography (CT) scanner from GE Healthcare.

This Machine Can 3-D Scan Your Insides In A Single Heartbeat

http://goo.gl/tIWxPQ

I talked about this type of technology previously:

Medical visualization, it’s what I see and do

http://goo.gl/PrwLx6

GE Revolution CT

Toshiba came out with a fast CT scanner a while ago. There aren’t many details about the GE Revolution CT scanner but I’m going to guess that it is similar to the Toshiba scanner. It should be noted that the colorized images are only possible with advanced segmentation algorithms. Again, without more details, I’m guessing that most of those images required intravenous (IV) contrast agents. It was a bit annoying that the author kept using the word photograph instead of image, but that’s me being pedantic. Also the title of the FastCompany article is a bit misleading. You can’t image a whole body in one heartbeat. You can however, image a whole organ, in 3D within a heartbeat. That’s still mighty impressive.

Images

I’ll quickly go through the images. The first appears to be an image of the carotid arteries and jugular veins. Most likely an iodine based contrast agent was injected intravenously. 

You’ll notice an image that looks like an art exhibit. The main thing there is the slip-ring. A slip-ring is what allows the CT scanner’s gantry to spin fast enough to image the heart in one heartbeat. A slip-ring maintains electrical continuity while being able to spin freely. Pre-clinical CT scanners don’t have slip-rings, so they must “rewind” after each image. They also rotate a lot slower. It’s an engineering triumph to spin very fast and accurately. You have to know the angle at which each projection (2D x-ray) was taken, in order to make the 3D (computed tomography) image.

Images: Pelvis

There are 3 pelvic images. I want to point out that this is a great example of the steps of segmentation. The first is basically a raw 2D x-ray (even though it’s from CT, a 2D radiograph would look very similar). The second has the bones segmented. The third has the liver (purple) and kidneys (tan) segmented. Also note the 3D rendering that is possible after segmentation. It’s possible without segmentation but not as pretty.

Images: Aorta

The last example are 3 images of an aorta. Two of them show a combination of the 2D, raw CT image, while the third shows the segmented, 3D rendered image. The yellow wires are likely an aortic stent, most likely installed to help a tear or aneurism heal.

The GE website doesn’t have a lot of details. I’m sorry I’m doing a lot of guessing here. Anyway, happy birthday Knut.

Image source: http://goo.gl/3RNtzm

#HappyBirthdayKnutter  #ScienceEveryday