Whole body X-ray CT scanner SCT-5000T

The new whole-body X-ray CT scanner, the SCT-5000T has recently been developed. The main considerations in the development were improvements in image quality and patient throughput in order to maximize practical utility. In regard to image quality, fine images (spatial resolution: 0.4 mm, low contrast resolution: 0.4 % 2.5 mm) can be obtained. These resolutions have been achieved through the use of high-speed data aquisition (800 views/second) and the use of high-density X-ray detector (812 channels). As for patient throughput, a scan cycle of 12 seconds has been realized by a 2 MHU X-ray tube and by a high-speed reconstruction unit. Furthermore, high-speed response parallel processing software have been realized by the adoption of a 32 bit CPU. In addition to the above improvement, this system equips a 600 MB magneto optical disk to record images. (author)