Innovative imaging technology significantly improves diagnostics and therapy

Yes­ter­day, Mainz Uni­ver­si­ty Med­ical Cen­ter offi­cial­ly com­mis­sioned its pho­ton-count­ing com­put­ed tomog­ra­phy scan­ner in its Depart­ment of Diag­nos­tic and Inter­ven­tion­al Radi­ol­o­gy. The inno­v­a­tive CT sys­tem has two X‑ray sources and a nov­el detec­tor prin­ci­ple. Espe­cial­ly in the clin­i­cal areas of car­diac and vas­cu­lar imag­ing as well as in oncol­o­gy, it enables much more accu­rate and gen­tle diag­nos­tics as well as safer ther­a­py deci­sions. In addi­tion, the pho­ton-count­ing com­put­ed tomo­graph improves the basis for research and the trans­la­tion of its results.

Today, the Uni­ver­si­ty Med­ical Cen­ter Mainz com­mis­sioned the cur­rent­ly most inno­v­a­tive com­put­ed tomo­graph in its Clin­ic for Diag­nos­tic and Inter­ven­tion­al Radi­ol­o­gy in the pres­ence of the Rhineland-Palati­nate Min­is­ter of Health, Clemens Hoch. It is a dual-source device with two X‑ray sources and a nov­el detec­tor prin­ci­ple. The new com­put­er tomo­graph enables much more pre­cise and gen­tle diag­nos­tics. Espe­cial­ly in the clin­i­cal areas of car­dio­vas­cu­lar imag­ing and oncol­o­gy, the impli­ca­tions are far-reaching.

The Min­is­ter of Sci­ence and Health of the State of Rhineland-Palati­nate, Clemens Hoch, empha­sizes: “This state-of-the-art com­put­er tomo­graph strength­ens our uni­ver­si­ty med­i­cine both in patient care and in research. It will not only ben­e­fit the patients of the Mainz Uni­ver­si­ty Med­ical Cen­ter in the years to come. It will also help researchers with inno­v­a­tive imag­ing to fur­ther advance med­ical devel­op­ment and thus con­tribute to the improve­ment of care far beyond Mainz. This com­bi­na­tion of excel­lent care and research is the cen­tral idea of uni­ver­si­ty med­i­cine and the very spe­cial strength of our med­ical sci­ence loca­tion in Mainz.”

Com­put­ed tomog­ra­phy (CT) is one of the most impor­tant pro­ce­dures for obtain­ing images of the inside of the human body. The three-dimen­sion­al images show sub­tle dif­fer­ences or changes in organs, ves­sels and bones and help to detect dis­eases or injuries. About fifty years ago, com­put­ed tomog­ra­phy made its way into med­ical diag­nos­tics. Now, an inno­v­a­tive tech­nol­o­gy is avail­able that ush­ers in a new era: a CT device with two rotat­ing X‑ray sources and a nov­el detec­tor principle.

“The pho­ton-count­ing com­put­ed tomo­graph is cur­rent­ly the most inno­v­a­tive CT device. It was nom­i­nat­ed for the Ger­man Future Prize 2021 of the Fed­er­al Pres­i­dent and was includ­ed by the jury in the ‘cir­cle of the best’ of the Ger­man Future Prize. This demon­strates the high lev­el of sci­en­tif­ic and tech­ni­cal inno­va­tion of the CT scan­ner as well as the poten­tial to trans­late this per­for­mance into mod­ern med­ical diag­nos­tics. Mainz Uni­ver­si­ty Med­ical Cen­ter is home to one of the world’s first devices. We are cer­tain that this award-win­ning device will make Mainz Uni­ver­si­ty Med­ical Cen­ter even more attrac­tive as a place of cut­ting-edge med­i­cine for patients and physi­cians alike.”

- Univ.-Prof. Dr. Nor­bert Pfeif­fer, Chair­man of the Board and Med­ical Director

With the new detec­tor tech­nol­o­gy, indi­vid­ual X‑ray pho­tons and their ener­gy lev­els are reg­is­tered direct­ly and with­out a detour, unlike in the past. This results in sig­nif­i­cant­ly improved spa­tial res­o­lu­tion and the pos­si­bil­i­ty of ana­lyz­ing tis­sue in a more dif­fer­en­ti­at­ed man­ner. The new “Naeotom Alpha” com­put­er tomo­graph is also gen­tler on patients, as it can work with up to 45 per­cent less radi­a­tion. To date, there are only about twen­ty of these pho­ton-count­ing com­put­er tomo­graphs in use worldwide.

Univ.-Prof. Dr. Ulrich Förster­mann, Sci­en­tif­ic Direc­tor of Mainz Uni­ver­si­ty Med­ical Cen­ter, adds: “The CT sys­tem not only puts med­ical diag­noses and ther­a­py deci­sions on a safer and more reli­able foot­ing, but also improves the basis for research and the trans­la­tion of its results.”

PD Dr. Chris­t­ian Elsner, Chief Com­mer­cial Offi­cer of the Uni­ver­si­ty Med­ical Cen­ter Mainz, is pleased with the inno­va­tion boost that the device rep­re­sents for uni­ver­si­ty med­i­cine: “Med­i­cine thrives on inno­va­tion. That’s why it’s espe­cial­ly impor­tant for uni­ver­si­ty insti­tu­tions like ours to invest in it.”

“The detec­tors of the pre­vi­ous CT machines bun­dle the X‑ray pho­tons of dif­fer­ent ener­gy lev­els in the pack­age and con­vert the sig­nal into flash­es of light — this takes more time and pro­vides few­er and less pre­cise insights into the human body. With the new CT scan­ner and its high­ly inno­v­a­tive tech­nol­o­gy, radi­ol­o­gy at Mainz Uni­ver­si­ty Med­ical Cen­ter is now play­ing in the Cham­pi­ons League of med­ical imag­ing,” explains Prof. Dr. Christoph Düber, Direc­tor of the Depart­ment of Diag­nos­tic and Inter­ven­tion­al Radi­ol­o­gy at Mainz Uni­ver­si­ty Med­ical Center.

The man­u­fac­tur­ing com­pa­ny Siemens Health­i­neers pre­sent­ed the pho­ton-count­ing com­put­ed tomo­graph “Naeotom Alpha” to the world pub­lic for the first time in Novem­ber 2021 at the North Amer­i­can Radi­ol­o­gy Con­gress (RSNA). The com­pa­ny has a decades-long tra­di­tion of research and devel­op­ment in imag­ing with the Uni­ver­si­ty Med­ical Cen­ter Mainz.