Cardiovascular computed tomography (CT) today is routine in many institutions, especially where the rule-out of coronary heart disease, full cardiac assessment, the stenosis evaluation of peripheral vessels, and stent planning are frequent tasks. Siemens’ new syngo^®.via-based CT Cardio-Vascular Engine¹ offers a high degree of automation and excellent functionality for fast anatomical evaluation, quantification, and functional assessment of CT angiography images of the heart or the peripheral vessels while allowing manual interactions at any time. Exclusive algorithms offer the capability to use SOMATOM^® CT‘s MinDose-data for functional evaluation, which enables up to 50 percent dose savings. A new, powerful set of intelligent tools supports a more comprehensive evaluation of calcified lesions or stents. For example, the user can conduct a thorough analysis of the right ventricle, of myocardial function assessment based on it‘s enhancement and on CT myocardial perfusion² or on the Image Sharpening tool. The latter saves up to three minutes for the reconstruction of sharp images at the scanner.

The syngo.via-based CT Cardio-Vascular Engine automatically preprocesses the cardiac cases regardless of whether they involve the rule-out of coronary heart disease, a functional analysis, calcium scoring, or a complete cardiac assessment. The software isolates the heart, provides an angiography-like display, and applies the physician’s preferred reading layout and evaluation tools. syngo.via also automatically queries archives and databases for further image data of the same patient, for example, from magnetic resonance imaging, ultrasound or CT myocardial perfusion imaging. The relevant data can easily be dragged and dropped into the cardiovascular reading layout to deliver additional diagnostic information for differential diagnosis.

syngo.via’s unique Findings Navigator collects all the findings, provides easy sharing of the results, and helps ensure that there is no need to repeat what already has been achieved. When a cardiac CT scan is performed, the technologist at the scanner typically does the calcium scoring. Hereafter, the reading physician runs the vascular and functional evaluation and confidently confirms the technologist’s findings. syngo.via organizes a structured workflow: It’s directed hand-off makes information sharing with colleagues as easy as pressing an email ‘send’ button.