Siemens 2012 Annual Report Download - page 31

Professor Dr. Claussen, Tübingen University Hospital has been using the Siemens
Biograph mMR since March 2011. In your experience, which appli cations is the
system most suitable for?
 . : There are currently three fields of application for the Biograph mMR.
About  % of the applications relate to oncology, where we can identify what stage a
tumor is in and monitor the course of treatment. The other fields are neurological diag-
nostics – in particular, neurodegenerative disease – and metabolic changes near the
heart muscle. The Biograph mMR provides simultaneous, detailed images of the changes
and processes taking place in living organisms. This is a tremendous advance. The
simultaneous acquisition of MR and PET offers precise morphological and functional
insights into the human body and makes it possible to pinpoint even the smallest patho-
logical changes – for example, in the liver, the brain and bone marrow.
How long had you been dreaming about combining MRI and PET in this way?
 . : Computed tomography became well established in the s,
and ever since we’ve been dreaming of visualizing anatomical structures and forms in
combination with their functions. Dynamic computed tomography, which involves
injecting contrast agents, was developed in the early s. This enabled us to monitor
blood flow in organs and tumors. Positron emission tomography (PET) made it possi-
ble to obtain images of specific metabolic activities in the body but afforded very poor
spatial resolution. Results improved when CT and PET technologies were combined in
PET-CT scanners. Then, about ten years ago, the enhanced contrast achieved in images
of soft tissue by using MRI technology awakened hopes of further improvement – and
today we have the Biograph mMR.
What is the special technical challenge of the Biograph mMR?
 . : The strong magnetic field of the magnetic resonance imaging
systems interfered with the operation of conventional PET detectors. That’s why new
detectors had to be developed for use with magnetic resonance imaging systems. At
our lab for preclinical imaging, Professor Dr. Bernd Pichler performed very important pre-
paratory work before we and Siemens tried out and tested this new technology in a first
combined MRI and PET head scanner. This example highlights how important it is for an
industrial company like Siemens, which is geared to research and devel opment, to lever-
age its customers’ potential and pursue open innovation through joint research projects.
Professor Dr. Claus Claussen is head of the Radiology
Clinic at Tübingen University Hospital. Professor
Dr. Claussen discusses the prospects for the innovative
technology below.
 – Professor Dr. Claussen (left) and Professor
Dr. Schäfer (right) at Tübingen University Hospital
  – Professor Dr. Claussen is head of the
Radiology Clinic at Tübingen University Hospital.
  – The images of Christian generated by the
Biograph mMR show no tumor activity in the pancreas.
 – Professor Dr. Schäfer evaluates the images
of Christian’s body produced by the Biograph mMR.