Siemens Healthineers kicked off SNMMI 2022 with the launch of its Symbia Pro.specta SPECT/CT, marking one of the biggest SPECT/CT rollouts we’ve seen in years.
The FDA and CE-cleared Symbia Pro.specta succeeds Siemens’ longstanding Symbia Intevo SPECT/CT (first launched in 2013) and is built to encourage nuclear medicine departments to finally replace their SPECT-only cameras and first-generation SPECT/CTs. That’s a big goal given SPECT/CT’s history of slow clinical adoption, and the Symbia Pro.specta will rely on a range of new and improved features to try to make it happen:
- Integrated SPECT/CT – The Symbia Pro.specta boasts a fully integrated SPECT/CT, including an integrated user interface, while allowing providers to also use the system for SPECT or CT-only imaging.
- myExam Companion – The Symbia Pro.specta adopts Siemens’ high-priority myExam Companion solution, which combines a new UI and automated guidance tools to make SPECT/CT operation far less manual, user dependent, and inconsistent (before and after image acquisition).
- Diagnostic-Quality CT – Siemens’ new SPECT/CT is now available with 32 or 64-slice CTs (vs. Symbia Intevo’s 32-slice max) and a 70cm bore, while also offering standard Tin Filter and SAFIRE iterative CT reconstruction for low-dose CT imaging.
- Advanced SPECT – The Symbia Pro.specta ships with standard automatic patient motion correction during SPECT exams (and optional cardiac exam motion correction), while its advanced quantification and energy level versatility allow it to support treatment response evaluations and theranostics usage.
- Accessibility & Flexibility – Siemens leaned-in on the Symbia Pro.specta’s accessibility strengths, noting that it is sleek enough to fit into most existing SPECT rooms, and can support a range of clinical uses (cardiology, neurology, oncology, orthopedics) and patient types (pediatric, obese, and physically challenged).
The Takeaway
SPECT/CT’s slow path towards becoming a mainstream modality arguably has more to do with its adoption barriers and providers’ acceptance of the status quo than any doubts about its clinical benefits. Even though not all adoption barriers are hardware-dependent, the Symbia Pro.specta lowers enough of them to give nuclear imaging departments a good reason to consider moving up to a modern SPECT/CT.
