WAUKESHA, Wash., April 27 (UPI) — GE Healthcare said Thursday it has been cleared to market its computed tomography system for radiation oncology.
The company said its “wide bore” CT system will be available in two configurations, the LightSpeed RT16 for advanced imaging for radiation therapy planning, and the LightSpeed Xtra, a 16-slice CT scanner designed for trauma, interventional and bariatric procedures.
The LightSpeed Xtra was designed in response to America’s obesity epidemic and the challenges of imaging plus-size patients.
While CT imaging has grown in popularity, “a number of patients are unable to undergo a CT scan because of the limitation of existing systems to accurately image large patients,” GE said.
“Responding to the increased need to image large patients, the LightSpeed Xtra has been cleared by the Food and Drug Administration “for imaging of obese and morbidly obese patients.”
More than 20 percent of the U.S. population is obese, GE noted, quoting statistics from the American Obesity Association, with 6 million Americans considered morbidly obese.
