| 1994 |
CARE Dose 4D |
Fully automatic, real-time dose modulation according to the absorption values measured within the body |
20 to 68% |
| 1997 |
UFC detectors |
Ultra-fast ceramic detectors with a gadolinium oxysulfide scintillator. The introduction of these detectors laid the essential foundations for subsequent multidetector technology and dual-source CT. |
Up to 30% |
| 1999 |
Adaptive ECG synchronization |
During a heart CT there is pulsed tube radiation only during the phase of the heart cycle selected beforehand. During the rest of the heart cycle, which is of no use in image reconstruction, no radiation is applied. |
30% to 50% in heart CTs |
| 1999 |
HandCARE |
If the examiner’s hand is inside the gantry when a CT is performed, radiation in this area can be switched off. This means that only the part of the hand that overlaps with the patient’s body, and is partly protected by it, is exposed to radiation. |
70% for the examiner |
| 2002 |
80 kV pediatric protocols |
When small areas are examined, reducing the tube voltage substantially reduces the dose when compared to conventional X-rays. The standard tube voltage for adults, up to 130 kV, is not necessary when scanning children’s smaller bodies. If examinations are performed on high-contrast areas such as the lungs or bones, the tube voltage can be further reduced by a fraction of the standard values (low-dose CT). |
Up to 50% |
| 2005 |
Dual-source CT |
Two tubes set at a 45° angle rotate simultaneously in the gantry. This allows a dose-efficient, shorter scan time together with adaptive ECG triggering and automatic adjustment of table movement to heart rate. |
Up to 50% when compared to single-source scanners |
| 2007 |
Adaptive cardio sequence |
Prospective ECG triggering (the step and shoot technique) reduces the average radiation dose in CT coronary angiography to approx. 2.5 mSv. |
1 to 3 mSv of dose in CT coronary angiography |
| 2007 |
Adaptive dose shield |
An asymmetrical collimator shield prevents overranging/overscanning of parts of the body not included in the examination at the beginning and end of a spiral CT. Depending on the total length of the body examined, the dose can fall by between 5% and 20%. |
Up to 25% |
| 2008 |
Flash spiral |
Two rows of detectors are used simultaneously, allowing the table feed to be increased to 45 cm/s. The main use of this is in imaging of the coronary vessels. |
<1 msv of dose in heart ct |
| 2008 |
Selective photon shield |
|
No increase in dose |
| 2008 |
4D noise reduction |
|
Up to 50% |
| 2008 |
X-Care |
Using organ-specific dose modulation, direct exposure of particularly radiosensitive organs such as the thyroid, breast or lenses can be avoided (similar to HandCARE). |
Up to 40% |
| 2009 |
Iterative Reconstruction in Image Space (IRIS) |
Special image processing in which a master image is first reconstructed on the basis of raw data and then gradually further reconstructed using iterative image correction. The result is an artifact- and noise-reduced image. |
Up to 60% |
