High-performance, Dynamic, Volume MicroCT

Conventional microCT scanners non-invasively detect and quantify 3D anatomical changes in small laboratory animal models and ex vivo specimens. However, these scanners do not have dynamic imaging capabilities analogous to clinical scanners, such as perfusion imaging.

The eXplore Locus Ultra Pre-Clinical CT scanner from GE Healthcare overcomes this limitation and permits quantitative physiological measurements of tissue, tumor and organ function using perfusion. In fact, by combining GE’s breakthrough flat-panel detector technology and a powerful X-ray tube, the Locus Ultra enables dynamic studies with acquisition speeds similar to clinical CT systems.

Locus Ultra offers:

• One second volume data acquisition that supports dynamic imaging and quantitative physiological measurements
• Use of short-lived common contrast agents
• Fast scanning and high-speed processing and reconstruction to enable high-throughput scanning for improved workflow
• Low anesthetic dosing for minimal impact on biological processes
• Anatomical & physiological imaging applications on one flexible platform
• Large transaxial field of view (14 cm) and long axial coverage (up to 10 cm/rotation), accommodating diverse animal models
• Clinical image viewing and analysis platform for advanced applications

Superior Image Quality, Confident Decisions

Locus Ultra provides high quality images with contrast-to-noise, resolution and dose performance optimized for preclinical imaging.

GE Healthcare backs its commitment to image quality by validating system performance against the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) standards for clinical CT quality assurance. These quality standards ensure that consistent, quality images and accurate quantification will guide the decisions affecting your research program, accelerating the transition from preclinical to clinical research.

Multi-modality imaging

Locus Ultra shares a collection of compatible animal beds with eXplore Vista (pre-clinical PET) and eXplore Optix (pre-clinical optical) to facilitate multi-modality image fusion. With this combination of functional and anatomical information, biochemical activities can be detected, quantified, monitored and registered to a specific location.

Respiratory and Physiological Gating

Locus Ultra has inputs for physiological monitors to provide gated acquisition capabilities, thus reducing motion artifacts.

Optimized Workflow and Data Management

Short scan times simplify animal handling by reducing requirements for extended anesthesia, temperature regulation, respiratory gating or ventilation and animal care technician time – giving you a quick answer to your daily research questions.

Additionally, images from Locus Ultra export seamlessly into a clinical workstation, such as GE Healthcare’s Advantage Workstation (AW + trademark), to further streamline data management and workflow.

A Dedicated Partner

For researchers across the globe, GE Healthcare is the partner of choice due to our core capabilities in diagnostic imaging and our expertise in biology and chemistry. In addition, we provide regionally based service and application training teams to maintain systems on-site and provide ongoing technical support.

Integrated Platform for Diverse Applications

Locus Ultra provides an integrated software and hardware solution to address the most challenging research applications:

• Perfusion
• Tumor: Measure parameters such as blood flow, blood volume, mean transit time and tissue permeability. Correlate blood flow dynamics to tumor growth and necrosis.
• Inflammation: Quantify changes in tissue flow or volume resulting from immune response activation related to injury or disease onset.
• Organ: Track changes in function and viability of organs such as kidney, heart or lung.
• Oncology
• Angiogenesis –Observe hyper-vascularization and vessel morphology that differentiates normal vessels from tumor-feeding vessels to quantify disease progression. Locus Ultra can evaluate the efficacy of anti-angiogenic therapies in longitudinal in vivo studies.
• Lung tumors – Measure lung tumor volumes with precision of <0.025mm3.
• Cardiovascular disease – Apply contrast agents to study stenosis, vascular disease and development, vascular injury/repair, vessel geometry and therapeutic efficacy.
• Respiratory disease - Visualize and quantify airway structures in small animals. The short acquisition time dramatically reduces image artifacts due to lung or abdominal motion, without gating.
• Bone Disease
• Osteoporosis – Rapidly assess disease development, progression and therapeutic efficacy with true volume bone mineral density measurement (vBMD).
• Arthritis – Monitor anatomical changes indicative of disease progression (joint spacing, bone and subchondral bone density).
• Phenotyping – Characterize anatomical differences in transgenic models and quantify resulting changes in longitudinal studies.