Algorithm Brings Speedier, Safer CT Scans

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Algorithm Brings Speedier, Safer CT Scans

Posted by Soulskill on Monday March 12, 2012 @08:10AM from the it's-never-lupus dept.

kenekaplan writes "Standard CT scanners can generate images of patient's body in less than five minutes today, but the radiation dose can be equal to about 70 chest X-rays. Lower-powered CT scans can be used in non-emergency situations, but it can take more than four days to produce those images. Intel and GE created an algorithm that speeds up a computer's ability to process the low radiation dose scans by 100x, from 100 hours per image to one hour."

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God damned stupid article by ColdWetDog · 2012-03-12 08:20 · Score: 5, Informative

1. I hate 'news articles' that are chock full of hyperbole and mis information. TFA implies that most CT scanning is done in the ER for life or death reasons which is hardly true. It oversells the current radiation dose of modern 16+ slice scanners and attempts to lower the radiation doses for all CTs.
2. Current gen CT scanners cut the dose of most tests by at least half from the second and third gen scanners. Of course, TFA doesn't mention how good the new dose regimens are in terms of decreasing dose.
3. It appears that this new tech has a significant price tag. TFA quoted 1.5 million for a 128 slice scanner with the "new algorithm". More slices = faster and more resolution, but mostly faster. The current 'top of the line' is 64 slice. "Standard" CTs are 16 slice and cost anywhere from $150 - 250K.
4. At least the GE scanners run Linux!

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Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
1. Re:God damned stupid article by meza · 2012-03-12 08:34 · Score: 2
  
  Did you read another article than the one I read? This is an honest question.
  1. The article in fact mention that the new technique is not applicable for life or death situation where a high radiation dose is acceptable. But rather for routine tests where it is important to limit the dose.
  2. Article doesn't mention different generations of CT
  3. No price is mentioned that I can see. I've search for "1.5", "million", neither words are used anyway
  4. No mention of linux
  Maybe the link have changed from an earlier version. The article is intel.com so I assume that it's main purpose was PR, but still I thought it was pretty ok and it was clear on the improvement that was made (computation time was reduced by a factor of 100).
2. Re:God damned stupid article by ColdWetDog · 2012-03-12 08:34 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  Better get used to it. The GE tech rep said it was going to be Linux all the way down as far as GE is concerned....
  
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  Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
3. Re:God damned stupid article by ColdWetDog · 2012-03-12 09:03 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  No, I added a few things -
  1. The article makes breathless claims about "emergency' CT scans and gives a decidedly FUD picture to the issue of radiation exposure via medical devices. It's there, just not as dramatically as mentioned.
  2. I added the different generations of CT scanners to point out that manufacturers have been cutting down dosage systematically and significantly over the past couple of decades. Again, it's really just progress.....
  3. The cost of the 128 slice "new algorithm" scanner is almost an order of magnitude more than a base gen 3 CT scan. It does things that the cheaper scanner doesn't but that's a pretty high price to pay. The info comes from a linked article in TFA (see my post below the first one).
  4. This is Slashdot. I thought somebody would appreciate this bit of technical trivia. Of course, if it ran OS X or if Google developed it, the thread would get 10 times the comments this one will get.
  Mostly I'm just grumping about stupid press releases. If they toned down the rhetoric and added some technical detail, it might be an interesting Slashdot post. As it is, it's just fluffy techno pony drivel.
  Now, if you don't mind, it's time for my nap....
  
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  Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
4. Re:God damned stupid article by Anastomosis · 2012-03-12 09:04 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  Yes, we have a 256-slice scanner that we routinely use. It is excellent for cardiac studies, where speed of scanning is important to reduce motion artifact from cardiac motion.
5. Re:God damned stupid article by ColdWetDog · 2012-03-12 09:04 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  Hopefully it will stop soon. 640 slices ought to be enough for anyone....
  
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  Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
OpenCL || Intel add by Massacrifice · 2012-03-12 08:36 · Score: 3, Interesting

Sounds like a job for OpenCL. A GPU cluster would be much more scalable than using expensive Xeons. Which also makes this article sound like an add for Intel CPUs.

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-- Home is where you eat your heart out.
1. Re:OpenCL || Intel add by Macman408 · 2012-03-12 11:24 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  I think this very much is an Intel ad. I was curious, because this sounded familiar, so I looked it up. From the press release and GE's white paper, it looks like their system:
  Uses 25 mAs dose (75% less than standard, they say)
  Is ready in an hour, 100 times faster than when they started in 2006 (so 6-10x of that speedup is Moore's Law, the other 10-16x is algorithm improvement)
  Uses 28 quad-core Xeons
  On the other hand, a GPU solution from 2 years ago:
  Gives a 2-4 mAs dose (97-99% less than standard, they say)
  Is ready in 1-2 minutes, 100 times faster than contemporary CPU algorithms
  Uses a single GPU
  Better, faster, cheaper... Pick three.
Inquiring minds by sjames · 2012-03-12 08:45 · Score: 3, Funny

Inquiring minds want to know, since this will substantially reduce the needed resources for a scan, how much cheaper will they be?
You can stop laughing now!
1. Re:Inquiring minds by sjames · 2012-03-12 13:08 · Score: 2
  
  Yes, but that machine now has a higher throughput. More scans to amortize across. Time is a resource.
Looking forward to improvements by djbckr · 2012-03-12 09:16 · Score: 2

I had a CT scan two weeks ago. I didn't fully realize until after I was done about the amount of radiation I was exposed to. My arm where the IV was injected with radiation hurt like hell for about 18 hours and of course I now have a higher risk of cancer. There's enough radiation in the injection that it makes you feel like you're generating heat from the inside. It's quite a weird feeling. I guess it was needed for the procedure I had to have done, but here's hoping for improvements with lowered radiation exposure.
1. Re:Looking forward to improvements by Anonymous Coward · 2012-03-12 09:51 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  The heat you felt is really because the iodine gets to the thyroid provoking a thermal regulation change.
2. Re:Looking forward to improvements by Drewcool · 2012-03-12 12:17 · Score: 2
  
  So that's why I never noticed that side effect after my thyroid was removed.
Worthwhile Goal by oldCoder · 2012-03-12 10:21 · Score: 2

A while back I had several full-body CT scans on an emergency basis. They found what they were looking for in my liver and it was treated. But I was forbidden to have any X-Rays of any kind for two years after that. So when I came down with bronchitis and pneumonia, the doctor had to play it by ear (literally, he just listened to my chest). All is well, now. But lowering the X-Ray dosage of CT scans is very worthwhile.

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I18N == Intergalacticization