Electron Beam Computed Tomography (EBCT)

Abstract

For many years, speed of image acquisition constituted a severe limitation to the use of CT scanners in cardiac imaging. The requirement for mechanical movement of both the X-ray tube and the detector array did not permit sufficiently fast data acquisition to avoid motion artifacts in computed tomography (CT) images of the heart. In the early 1980s, initial experience with the so-called dynamic spatial reconstructor (DSR) had demonstrated a potential diagnostic value of cardiac CT imaging (BEHRENBECK et al. 1982; ROBB et al. 1983). However, the DSR had limited spatial resolution and was a very complex system. It was never manufactured commercially. Soon thereafter, a new concept for cardiac CT imaging was introduced by a group of researchers around Douglas Boyd at the University of San Francisco. Termed “ultrafast CT” (UFCT), “5th generation CT”, “cine CT”, “electron-beam tomography” (EBT) or “electron beam computed tomography” (EBCT, the term most frequently used now), the system permitted for image acquisition without the need for mechanical movement of an X-ray tube. It provided substantially increased speed of acquisition, simultaneous multi-level imaging, and the ability to synchronize image generation to the cardiac cycle (BoYD et al. 1979; BOYD 1983). The company Imatron Inc. (San-Francisco, USA) started commercial production and distribution of EBCT systems in 1984. The company - the sole manufacturer of EBCT systems - developed several scanner generations (C-100, C-150 and C-300). Between 1993 and 1998, Imatron Inc. had a partnership with Siemens Medical Systems, which resulted in several technical improvements of the scanner. In 2001, General Electric Medical Systems (GEMS) acquired Imatron Inc. and created a daughter company named “GE Imatron Inc:’ for manufacturing, servicing and sales of EBCT. According to GEMS statements, the company is interested in further development of EBCT technology along with its own lines of spiral and multi-slice spiral mechanical CT. In November 2002, GEMS launched a new model of EBCT called ”e-Speed“. It is the first completely new EBCT scanner to be developed since the company bought Imatron in December 2001. e-Speed represents a significant improvement over the previous model, C300. The e-Speed scanner has a completely new system design, with a new power source (140 kW) for smoother, higher resolution (up to 13.5 1p/ cm), a new multislice detector system, and a new data acquisition system. This enables scan times of 50 and even 33 ms, two to three times faster than the previous EBT scanners. The e-Speed system is a high-performance imaging system suitable for both cardiac and non-cardiac applications.