Siemens Hangs on as Low-Dose Leader for Second Year in a Row

CHICAGO, IL, November 26, 2012 (Press-News.org) According to a new study by KLAS, providers name Siemens as their top choice for a low-dose imaging leader. The report CT 2012: Reconstructing the Market indicates that Siemens' customers choose Siemens as the low-dose leader almost twice as often as other vendors' customers choose their vendors, among other findings.

Siemens' development of their iterative reconstruction systems IRIS, second-generation SAFIRE, and other dose-optimization technologies, like CARE Dose4D, position them out in front of other vendors' low-dose efforts. Other findings cite that providers rate Toshiba Aquilion ONE as the number-one high-end scanner in the report, praising the larger detector for scanning speed and image quality in large-organ imaging. Toshiba's customers feel that the Aquilion ONE is a great value and that Toshiba's service and sales personnel are top notch.

"Dose takes center stage in this study because protecting patients from dose exposure is at the top of providers' minds," said Ben Brown, author of the report and medical imaging research director. "They want to know which vendors are dedicated to developing the best iterative reconstruction tools and other dose-saving solutions--as well as which vendors will help educate and train their physicians and techs so they can make the most of those tools. While the gap has narrowed among vendors, many providers still feel that Siemens is the low-dose industry leader again this year."

Though the Aquilion ONE is the top-rated scanner in the study, adoption of Toshiba's iterative reconstruction solutions AIDR and AIDR 3D is lower than Philips or GE customers' adoption. While AIDR 3D has improved upon AIDR, image quality still lags and customers want better training and education to help them utilize AIDR 3D.

Philips rates fourth with their Brilliance iCT 256 scanner. Despite some downtime caused by the AirGlide gantry, the Brilliance is a solid performer in the study with an overall score of 86.9 (out of 100). Philips' iDose and iDose4 have been well received and adopted, though the workflow can be cumbersome. Philips is delivering when it comes to dose training and education for technologists and earns one of the top scores for training physicians as well.

A small sample of customers rated Philips' Ingenuity CT 128, and it is coming out of the gate running. While the Brilliance line has struggled with reliability and support issues, 100 percent of surveyed customers said they would buy the Ingenuity again.

The GE CT750 HD takes fifth place out of the five high-end scanners ranked in this study. ASiR, GE's iterative reconstruction solution, holds its own among other vendor offerings. Those that have adopted or want to adopt GE's second-generation iterative reconstruction solution, Veo, must invest more to get it, unlike Siemens, who upgraded all customers to CARE Dose4D at no cost.

GE earns the lowest scores of all the vendors when it comes to dose education and training. Customers said they would like GE to be better about following up with them and offering continual education, especially after upgrades.

To learn more about the CT market and the vendors in this study, providers and vendors can check out the full report CT 2012: Reconstructing the Market. This report is available to healthcare providers at a significant discount. To purchase, visit www.KLASresarch.com/KLASreports.

KLAS is a research firm on a global mission to improve healthcare delivery by enabling providers to be heard and be counted. Working with thousands of healthcare executives and clinicians, KLAS gathers data on software, services, medical equipment, and infrastructure systems to deliver timely reports, trends, and statistical overviews. The research directly represents the provider voice and acts as a catalyst for improving vendor performance. Founded in 1996, KLAS' staff and advisory board members average 25 years of healthcare information technology experience. For more information, go to www.KLASresearch.com, email marketing@KLASresearch.com, or call 1-800-920-4109 to speak with a KLAS representative. Follow KLAS on Twitter @KLASresearch.