The information presented in this application guide is
for illustration only and is not intended to be relied
upon by the reader for instruction as to the practice of
medicine. Any health care practitioner reading this
information is reminded that they must use their own
learning, training and expertise in dealing with their
individual patients.
This material does not substitute for that duty and is
not intended by Siemens Medical Solutions Inc., to be
used for any purpose in that regard. The drugs and
doses mentioned herein are consistent with the
approval labeling for uses and/or indications of the
drug. The treating physician bears the sole
responsibility for the diagnosis and treatment of
patients, including drugs and doses prescribed in
connection with such use. The Operating Instructions
must always be strictly followed when operating the
MR/CT System. The source for the technical data is the
corresponding data sheets.
The pertaining operating instructions must always be
strictly followed when operating the SOMATOM
Emotion 6/16-slice configuration. The statutory
source for the technical data are the corresponding
data sheets.
We express our sincere gratitude to the many
customers who contributed valuable input.
Special thanks to Christiane Bredenhoeller, Gabriel
Haras, Ute Feuerlein, Jessica Amberg, Thomas Flohr,
Rainer Raupach, Bettina Hinrichsen, Axel Barth,
Kristin Pacheco and the CT-Application Team for their
valuable assistance.
To improve future versions of this application guide,
we would highly appreciate your questions,
suggestions and comments.
optional Cardiac, PET, SPECT and Private.
The protocols for special applications are defined in the
Application Guide “Clinical Applications” or in the
case of a Heart View examination, in the Application
Guide “Cardiac CT“.
The general concept is as follows: All protocols without
a suffix are standard spiral modes. For example,
“Sinus” means the spiral mode for the sinus.
The suffixes of the protocol name are follows:
“Routine“: for routine studies
“Seq”: for sequence studies
“Fast“: use a higher pitch for fast acquisition
“ThinSlice“: use a thinner slice collimation
“Combi“: use a thinner and a thicker slice collimation
“05s”: use the rotation time of 0.5 seconds
“ECG“: use a ECG-gated or triggered mode
“Neuro“: for neurologicial examinations with a special
mode
“Vol“: use the 3D Recon workflow
“HR“: use a thin slice width for High Resolution studies
A prefix of the protocol name is as follows:
“RT”: for radio therapy studies
The availability of scan protocols depends on the sys-
tem configuration.
“Resp”: for respiratory gated studies
The availability of scan protocols depends on the sys-
tem configuration.
18
Scan and Reconstruction
Scan Set Up
Scans can be simply set up by selecting a predefined
examination protocol. To repeat any mode, just click
the chronicle with the right mouse button for repeat.
To delete it, select cut. Each range name in the chronicle can be easily changed before load.
Multiple ranges can be run either automatically with
auto range, which is denoted by a bracket connecting
the two ranges, or separately with a pause in
between.
Feed in/Feed out
The performance of the different buttons (soft buttons, gantry buttons, control box buttons) is standardized as follows:
•in NOT loaded modes
1 mm
•in loaded Biopsy mode:
Feed In/Out = slice width x No. slice positions per scan
** only in combination with SPECT, option
*** only in combination with PET, option
20
Scan and Reconstruction
Scan Modes
Sequential Scanning
This is an incremental, slice-by-slice imaging mode in
which there is no table movement during data acquisition. A minimum interscan delay in between each
acquisition is required to move the table to the next
slice position.
Spiral Scanning
Spiral scanning is a continuous volume imaging mode.
The data acquisition and table movements are performed simultaneously for the entire scan duration.
There is no inter-scan delay and a typical range can be
acquired in a single breath hold.
Each acquisition provides a complete volume data set,
from which images with overlapping can be reconstructed at any arbitrary slice position. Unlike the
sequence mode, spiral scanning does not require additional radiation to obtain overlapping slices.
21
Scan and Reconstruction
Quick Scan
The data is usually acquired during a full 360° rotation
– this is a Full scan. Data acquisition not using a full
360° rotation is called a “Quick scan”. Quick scans are
employed to reduce motion artifacts and improve the
temporal resolution.
Dynamic Multiscan
Multiple continuous rotations at the same table position are performed for data acquisition. Normally, it is
applied for fast dynamic contrast studies, such as
syngo Neuro Perfusion CT.
Dynamic Serioscan
Dynamic serial scanning mode without table feed.
Dynamic serio can still be used for dynamic evaluation
such as Test Bolus. The image order can be defined on
the Recon subtask card.
22
Scan and Reconstruction
UFC detector
Siemens’ proprietary, high-speed Ultra Fast Ceramic
(UFC) detector enables a virtually simultaneous readout of two projections for each detector element.
The detector configuration with the routine acquisition
of the Emotion 6/16-slice configuration:
SOMATOM Emotion 16-slice configuration:
SOMATOM Emotion 6-slice configuration:
23
Scan and Reconstruction
Acquisition, Slice Collimation
and Slice Width
Slice collimation is the slice thickness resulting from
the effect of the tube-side collimator and the adaptive
detector array design. In Multislice CT, the Z-coverage
per rotation is given by the product of the number of
active detector slices and the collimation (e.g. 6 x
1.0mm for the SOMATOM Emotion 6-slice configuration or 16 x 0.6mm for the SOMATOM Emotion 16slice configuration ).
Slice width is the FWHM (full width at half maximum)
of the reconstructed image.
With the SOMATOM Emotion 6/16-slice configuration,
you select the slice collimation together with the slice
width desired. The slice width is independent of pitch,
i.e. what you select is always what you get. Actually,
you do not need to care about the algorithm any more;
the software does it for you.
If Metrorecon/Fastrecon is not selected you will routinely get “Real Time” images. The Recon icon on the
chronicle will be labeled with “RT”. After the scan the
Real Time displayed image series has to be reconstructed.
In some cases – this depends also on Scan pitch and
Reconstruction increment – the Recon icon on the
chronicle will be labeled with “RT”. This indicates the
Real Time display of images during scanning. The Real
Time displayed image series has to be reconstructed
after completion of spiral.
The Acq (Acquisition) is displayed on the Examination
task card. The Acquisition is simply "number of slices
acquired per rotation" x "width of one slice".
24
Scan and Reconstruction
SOMATOM Emotion 16-slice configuration
Spiral Mode
Collimation/
Acquisition
16 x 0.6 mm0.75, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0, 5.0 mm
16 x 1.2 mm1.5, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0, 5.0, 6.0, 8.0,
HR/Neuro Spiral Mode
Collimation/
Acquisition
4 x 0.6 mm0.6, 0.75, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0,
Sequence Mode
Collimation/
Acquisition
4 x 0.6 mm0.6, 1.2, 2.4 mm
12 x 0.6 mm0.6, 2.4, 7.2 mm
16 x 0.6 mm1.2, 2.4, 4.8, 9.6 mm
Slice width
10.0 mm
Slice width
5.0 mm
Slice width
2 x 5 mm5.0, 10.0 mm
12 x 1.2mm1.2, 3.6, 4.8 mm
2 x 8 mm8.0, 16.0 mm
16 x 1.2 mm 2.4, 4.8, 9.6, 19.2 mm
25
Scan and Reconstruction
SOMATOM Emotion 6-slice configuration
Spiral Mode
CollimationSlice width
1 mm1,1.25,2,2.5,3,4,5,6,8,10mm
2 mm2.5, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10 mm
3 mm4, 5, 6, 8, 10 mm
Sequence Mode
CollimationSlice width
1 mm1, 2, 3 mm
2 mm2, 4, 6, 12 mm
3 mm3, 6, 9, 18 mm
5 mm5, 10 mm
HR Spiral Mode
CollimationSlice width
0.5 mm0.63, 0.75, 1, 1.25, 2, 2.5, 3, 4,
5mm
HR Sequence Mode
CollimationSlice width
1 mm1 mm
26
Scan and Reconstruction
Increment
The increment is the distance between the reconstructed images in Z direction. When the chosen increment is smaller than the slice thickness, the images are
created with an overlap. This technique is useful for
reducing partial volume effect, giving you better detail
of the anatomy and high quality 2D and 3D postprocessing.
The increment can be freely adapted from 0.1 - 10
mm.
Pitch
Pitch = feed per rotation
z-coverage
z-coverage = detector rows x collimated slice width
Feed/Rotation = table movement per rotation
The Pitch Factor can be freely adapted from 0.45 – 2.0,
in Cardio, there is a fixed pitch down to 0.1.
With the SOMATOM Emotion 6/16-slice configuration,
you select the slice collimation together with the slice
width desired.
The slice width is independent of pitch, i.e. what you
select is always what you get. Actually, you do not
need to be concerned about the algorithm any more;
the software does it for you.
Pitch values with a step width of 0.05 can be selected
for all modes.
We recommend to use a Pitch Factor of 0.45 for MPR
reconstructions.
27
Scan and Reconstruction
Kernels
There are 4 different types of kernels: “H“ stands for
Head, “B“ stands for Body, “C“ stands for ChildHead and
”S” stands for Special Application, e.g. syngo Osteo CT.
The image sharpness is defined by the numbers – the
higher the number, the sharper the image; the lower
the number, the smoother the image.