Siemens Healthineers has begun U.K. shipments of several new offerings in its Cios line of minimally invasive interventional C-arm systems.
First introduced in 2015, the systems include Cios Fusion, Cios Connect, Cios Select, and the premium Cios Alpha system. They have been designed to work with a range of specialties, including orthopedics and vascular surgery.
The Cios Fusion features flat-panel detector technology and a field-of-view that is 160% larger than the standard image intensifier, according to the company. This produces an image that is free of geometrical distortion and offers a higher grayscale resolution. An additional touchscreen can be located at the side of the operating table enables the surgeon to control the C-arm from within the sterile area of work, Siemens said.
The Cios Connect system is a lightweight model that offers software options for vascular imaging, enabling clinicians to display individual images simultaneously in subtracted view and x-ray view. It also provides pulsed x-rays using the subtraction process to ensure better anatomical penetration. A removable antiscatter grid also makes it possible to provide pediatric treatment at the lowest achievable dose.
The entry-level system, Cios Select, is designed to be particularly user-friendly in operation. Like the entire Cios suite, the C-arm uses the image processing algorithm IDEAL (Intelligent Dose Efficiency Algorithm), which ensures high image quality due to continuous contrast and brightness adjustments plus automatic dose-performance adjustment.
A premium version of the Cios Alpha includes a revised version of the Cios software. A large preview image on the touchscreen makes it easier for operating theater staff to select the appropriate image settings, and a metal correction function compensates for metal components in the image, to enable surrounding tissue to be represented with greater contrast, the firm added.
