Siemens Health Care, Forchheim, Germany.
Eur J Radiol. 2008 Dec;68(3):362-8. doi: 10.1016/j.ejrad.2008.08.013. Epub 2008 Oct 7.
During the past years, multi-detector row CT (MDCT) has evolved into clinical practice with a rapid increase of the number of detector slices. Today's 64 slice CT systems allow whole-body examinations with sub-millimeter resolution in short scan times. As an alternative to adding even more detector slices, we describe the system concept and design of a CT scanner with two X-ray tubes and two detectors (mounted on a CT gantry with a mechanical offset of 90 degrees) that has the potential to overcome limitations of conventional MDCT systems, such as temporal resolution for cardiac imaging. A dual source CT (DSCT) scanner provides temporal resolution equivalent to a quarter of the gantry rotation time, independent of the patient's heart rate (83 ms at 0.33 s rotation time). In addition to the benefits for cardiac scanning, it allows to go beyond conventional CT imaging by obtaining dual energy information if the two tubes are operated at different voltages. Furthermore, we discuss how both acquisition systems can be used to add the power reserve of two X-ray tubes for long scan ranges and obese patients. Finally, future advances of DSCT are highlighted.
在过去的几年中，多排探测器 CT（MDCT）技术在临床实践中得到了快速发展，探测器的数量迅速增加。如今的 64 排 CT 系统允许在短扫描时间内以亚毫米的分辨率进行全身检查。作为增加更多探测器的替代方案，我们描述了一种 CT 扫描仪的系统概念和设计，该扫描仪有两个 X 射线管和两个探测器（安装在 CT 机身上，机械偏移 90 度），具有克服传统 MDCT 系统局限性的潜力，例如心脏成像的时间分辨率。双源 CT（DSCT）扫描仪提供的时间分辨率等效于机架旋转时间的四分之一，与患者的心率无关（0.33 秒旋转时间时为 83 毫秒）。除了对心脏扫描的益处之外，如果两个管以不同的电压运行，它还可以通过获取双能量信息来超越传统的 CT 成像。此外，我们还讨论了如何使用这两个采集系统为长扫描范围和肥胖患者增加两个 X 射线管的功率储备。最后，突出了 DSCT 的未来发展。
