Validation of the Siemens System Somatom Definition and Operating Software for Cardiac CT Studies

Overview

We are evaluating a new computer software package to help us acquire and interpret heart CT studies, which is the purpose of this research project. We plan to compare the acquiring and analysis of heart artery calcium scores and CT angiograms (scans of the heart arteries) with the new SYNGO Somaris/7 Cardiac software to our previous experience with the the existing Siemens software and the TeraRecon software (current software used in the Cardiovascular MR/CT lab). The main objective of this study is to provide information to Siemens regarding the ease of use and capability of the scanner's software. The goal of this study is to determine whether the acquisition and interpretation information with the new software functionally meets the guidelines specified by Siemens, and also to determine whether the software is equivalent or superior to previous versions we used from April 2004 to April 2006.

We will obtain and read CT coronary angiograms (CAT scans of the heart arteries) with the assistance of the new imaging software analysis package. Analysis of technical and clinical data will be recorded on the case report forms. This will be an observational design. We intend to test the results of our analyses through a Test Plan looking at Cardio functionality (hardware and software), System performance (reconstruction, loading, transferring, archiving),and System stability. We plan to find out the relevant effect of our clinical reading results by enrolling our patients in a long-term clinical outcomes database. To evaluate the presence of traditional coronary risk factors, a focused medical history will be requested (see attached) as well as access to relevant medical records to determine the presence of major adverse cardiac events. These will be handled in a confidential manner and will be de-identified using subject number and initial only to be compliant with HIPAA.

Conditions