Cardiac Techs out there: what’s your favorite Gamma camera? Mine happens to be the CardioMD. This camera seems to be one of the most common gamma cameras found in cardiac clinics, hospital-based cardiac floors, and doctor’s offices.
A small history lesson for those who may not have known, the CardioMD was initially marketed by ADAC Laboratories and manufactured by DDD Diagnostic in Denmark. Philips Healthcare purchased ADAC Laboratories and continued to market the camera through four generations of upgrades. Philips Healthcare no longer sells this camera; however, DDD Diagnostic still manufactures this camera as the CorCam.
Whichever version you use, the camera is a very compact, small FOV-fixed 90° cardiac imaging camera that will fit in rooms barely larger than a closet. It was originally marketed with a Pegasys processing computer. The camera has undergone a few iterations of processing computers from Philips, such as Jetstream and EBW. All of these programs utilized AutoSPECT and Autoquant, reconstruction and quantitative programs developed by Cedars Sinai in the early 90s and trademarked by Philips. Today, you can buy the latest and greatest version of Cedars Processing to replace any of the original processing computers, bringing your current camera up-to-date regardless of the version.
When I say up-to-date, I’m referring to the fact that the latest iteration of this camera is essentially the same as the first iteration. Since it’s still being sold with nearly the same design, one can bring the camera up-to-date by simply updating the acquisition computer or the processing computer, or both can be accomplished with cost savings over replacing the camera.
The CardioMD can acquire static images, dynamic images, gated and gated tomo, along with tomo images. Its field of view is small, but with a little thought, it can be used for more than MPI cardiac imaging. It can also be utilized for amyloidosis, congestive heart failure, chemotherapy damage, thyroid imaging, and any static or basic renal scan data. Of course, you need a reconstruction and processing computer system that can handle the data appropriately; however, with a little thinking outside the box on the user’s part, it can be a versatile camera. It can even do prone imaging with a long-bed configuration.
As for drawbacks, there is no list mode acquisition, which prevents it from doing a first-pass CFR SPECT study. On the bright side, CardioMD’s software will correct its orientation, so imaging dextrocardia or situs inversus patients is possible. With a new processing software package like Cedars, you can correct for mirror image orientation issues and, even though the Raw Data may be upside down, the perfusion images are oriented correctly.
In conclusion, the CardioMD, in my opinion, is the most easy-to-use, straightforward cardiac imaging camera on the market today. It has a great track record of being very reliable with few breakdowns. Even calibrations are simple! If you’re considering a Cardiac Imaging Camera, this would be the one I would choose.
Written by Scott Truman, Application Specialist at TTG Imaging Solutions