Royal Philips introduced its new CardioMD IV SPECT system at the American Society of Nuclear Cardiology’s Annual Scientific Session this past weekend in Kansas City.

It’s a lower-cost-of-ownership system that can fit in almost any existing camera room without requiring expensive renovations.

"Cardiac stress/rest scans continue to be the top nuclear medicine procedure in the United States, representing about 59 percent of total nuclear medicine procedures," Kirill Shalyaev, business leader of advanced molecular imaging at Philips, told HCB News. "CardioMD IV is a clinically proven solution that not only delivers the reliable nuclear imaging performance, but a low total cost of ownership that nuclear cardiology practices need, to drive clinical, financial and operational efficiencies."

CardioMD IV is equipped with the company’s Astonish reconstruction and cardiac quantification software, which helps to improve workflow for cardiac imaging. The IntelliSpace Portal platform provides clinicians with access to the latest cardiac SPECT quantification, review and reporting applications and also allows for collaboration between cardiologists and referring physicians.

The global SPECT market is expected to reach $1.5 billion by 2021, according to a Technavio report released in March. The cardiology segment is responsible for generating about 35 percent of the overall revenue.

Cardiac SPECT exams are mostly performed to detect coronary artery disease, percutaneous coronary intervention and other cardiac abnormalities. Lifestyle changes, including an increase in alcohol consumption and hypertension, are creating a higher demand for SPECT imaging.

Advances in SPECT technology that allow for faster scan results, less motion artifacts, increased sensitivity and better image quality are also contributing to the growth of the cardiology segment.

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