Siemens Healthineers is rolling out artificial intelligence programs through its ultrasound platforms that automatically recognize, label and measure organs during an abdominal scan.
In what the company described as an industry-first, the Acuson Sequoia 3.5 software also includes tools for assessing liver tissue, including quantifying its stiffness and overall fat content. The update also includes hardware changes, with a new linear transducer that aims to improve breast and musculoskeletal imaging.
“With our continued focus on practical AI, we are committed to developing solutions that improve the ultrasound user’s clinical experience and improve workflow to standardize diagnostic results for patients,” Ajay Gannerkote, Siemens Healthineers’ head of ultrasound, said in a statement.
The company said its AI Abdomen programs can reduce sonographer hand motions during an exam by up to 89%, compared to manually identifying individual organs during a scan.
The software is capable of labeling 17 anatomical views and recording 12 different standardized measurements in real-time—which Siemens Healthineers said would help simplify examinations of patients who may be in pain, such as in cases of kidney stones, digestive issues or cancer.
Acuson Sequoia 3.5 has received greenlights in the U.S. and European Union. The company’s announcement came during the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America, being held in Chicago.
Siemens Healthineers also forged a collaboration with RadNet’s DeepHealth subsidiary, to link its Acuson Sequoia ultrasound system with DeepHealth’s SmartSonography cloud-powered workflow solution.
Elsewhere at RSNA, Siemens Healthineers unveiled two new additions to its Naeotom Alpha line of photon-counting CT scanners. The company launched its first machine in the series three years ago, with detectors sensitive enough to measure X-rays individually.
The latest hardware includes the dual-source Naeotom Alpha.Pro, plus the medtech’s first single-source scanner, the Naeotom Alpha.Prime. All systems will offer image slice thicknesses of 0.2 millimeters.
The company said that more than 1 million patients worldwide have been scanned so far using its proton-counting technology and that it is currently investing about $86 million to expand detector production in Forchheim, Germany.