LightSpeed VCT

End of this month, a new GE's 64 slices CT Scanner will be installed at Rumah Sakit Abdi Waluyo Jakarta. Here's some short information about the instruments :


The LightSpeed VCT scanner, the first embodiment of GE’s Volume CT approach, delivers 40mm of coverage per rotation while providing 0.35mm microVoxel™ resolution. In comparison, conventional multi-slice CT scanners performing at their highest resolution can offer only half that coverage at best or, can image large anatomical regions efficiently but may sacrifice image detail.

In fact, at maximum pitch, LightSpeed VCT provides higher resolution and 73% more coverage per second than is currently projected from the most recent advancements seen in 32- and 40-slice multi-slice CT scanners coming onto the market. This speed translates into being able to capture dynamic events easily.

This unprecedented marriage of high volume and high resolution has three major clinical rewards:

1.Dramatically reduced acquisition times: Static organs can be imaged in one second, the lung in two seconds, and a whole body scan be completed in less than 10 seconds.
That’s half or less than half the time multi-slice – and a more comfortable breath-hold for patients.

2.Improved image quality: Image quality benefits from true volumetric acquisition and reconstruction, including; the reduction in motion artifacts, thin slice imaging for every scan mode, and better multi-planar reformats.

Plus, LightSpeed VCT holds promise
improved contrast efficiencies, better
anatomical enhancement with the
same contrast load or the opportunity
to recognize contrast savings, due to
the four-fold decrease in acquisition
times relative to 16-slice systems.
New diagnostic possibilities:
Most importantly, Volume CT opens
door to game-changing clinical applications,
such as the ability to acquire
complete coronary angiogram within
five heartbeats, help physicians rule
out (or in) the three main lifethreatening
causes of ER chest pain
in one non-invasive scan, and make
stroke workup more routine.

GE Smart mA

GE introduced Smart mA in 1994 and was the first CT manufacturer to provide scanners with Automatic Exposure Control –a major step forward in managing patient dose.
The LightSpeed VCT offers the Smart mA system, which combines both z-axis and angular tube current modulation to adjust the dose to the size and shape of individual patients – accounting for all three dimensions.

Prior to scanning, the user selects the desired image quality, or noise index. Based on a single scout scan, the system adjusts the exposure during the CT scan to achieve that level of acceptable noise across the region of interest. Similar to cruise control on a car, the system increases and decreases the mA as it encounters various anatomy thicknesses and asymmetries.

Compared with using a fixed mA, Smart mA can reduce patient dose by as much as 32.5% while maintaining consistent image quality.


ECG gating also can be used to modulate the mA during the heart cycle to achieve up to 50% dose reductions on many cardiac studies. ECG modulation takes advantage
of the fact that cardiac motion is generally greatest during the systolic phase and only applies full tube current to the patient when imaging during the diastolic period where motion is minimal.