Siemens Healthcare is currently presenting its solutions for cardiology at the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Congress 2010. The innovations ranging from Dual-Source CT, 3D in angiography, 2D and volume echocardiography, MR, nuclear cardiology and laboratory diagnostics are designed to provide a higher quality of patient care and contribute at the same time to reducing costs.
Approximately 14 million people in Europe suffer from heart failure and it is estimated that this number will increase to about 30 million1 by 2020. New medical approaches and imaging methods will support faster diagnosis and minimise invasive procedures to deliver over the long term improved patient outcomes and a saving to health expenditure.
The Congress has dedicated special emphasis on the planning of Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation (TAVI) procedures with the SOMATOM Definition Flash CT and imaging softwaresyngo.via. ‘syngo Aortic ValveGuide’, a new image processing software for angiography, also assists in TAVI preparation and procedures. It automatically reconstructs a 3D representation of the aortic root from CT-like cross sectional images. The software automatically selects anatomical landmarks and overlays the 3D image with two dimensional images acquired during live fluoroscopy.
To improve efficiency in routine echocardiography examinations, the new 1.5 release of the ACUSON SC2000™ volume imaging ultrasound system features a number of innovative workflow solutions and offers a complete 2D and volumetric system. Efficiency improvement in MR will also be showcased at ESC with the recently launched MAGNETOM® Aera 1.5T and Skyra 3T systems. Both reduce the complexity of cardiac MR examinations and provide greater image consistency.
Siemens is also highlighting its nuclear cardiology solutions and a new cardiac application for the Biograph PET-CT. ‘syngo Dynamic PET with Myocardial Blood Flow’ offers a new method for quantitatively evaluating the extent of ischemia. It enables a more definitive measurement of myocardial blood flow during PET perfusion studies compared to regular myocardial perfusion studies and the additional information may have significant impact on the diagnosis of patients with advanced coronary heart disease (CHD) and patients with multi-vessel disease or are asymptomatic.
Cardiac troponins as preferred blood markers for diagnosing myocardial infarction or acute coronary syndrome are also being highlighted at ESC. The NT-proBNP/BNP assays are available on the IMMULITE®, Dimension® and ADVIA Centaur® laboratory diagnostic analyser product families.
Siemens is holding a number of satellite symposia on the latest cardiology treatments at the ECS Congress. The focus is on the therapy of patients suffering from heart failure, on people with acute chest pain and patients with severe aortic valve stenosis. The website link, www.siemens.com/esc can be viewed after the event to listen to interviews with leading cardiologists as well as seeing video clips of the satellite symposia.
