News | Press Releases

December 1, 2008

TOSHIBA ANNOUNCES CORE320 - THE FIRST WORLDWIDE MULTI-CENTER TRIAL TO VALIDATE DYNAMIC VOLUME CT TECHNOLOGY IN A CLINICAL SETTING

New Study to Validate the Effectiveness of 320-Detector Row CT as Compared to SPECT

CHICAGO Nov. 30, 2008-As the next phase in validating advanced computed tomography technology in a clinical setting, Toshiba Medical Systems Corporation (TMSC) will support CORE320, the largest worldwide multi-center trial comparing the effectiveness of 320-detector row dynamic volume CT to SPECT technology. The trial will examine whether the combination of CT angiography and myocardial perfusion can identify coronary stenoses that are less than or equal to 50 percent by Quantitative Coronary Analysis (QCA) and correspond to a SPECT perfusion defect. CORE320 will begin in December 2008.

The Aquilion ONE™, the dynamic volume CT system to be used in CORE320, will be showcased at this year's Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) annual meeting in Chicago, Nov. 30 - Dec. 5, 2008 (Booth #3429, South Hall).

"One of Toshiba's core missions is to validate its technology through clinical trials by leaders in the medical field," explained Yusuke Toki, general manager, Clinical Application Research Center, TMSC. "As the first and largest multi-center trial using dynamic volume CT, CORE320 will result in the most statistically reliable data available on this advanced technology. This will be attributed in part to the trial's design, which calls for an international, multi-center approach, bypassing the limitations associated with focusing on one geographic area and/or small patient populations."

CORE320's multi-center trial will be lead by primary investigator Dr. João A. C. Lima of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, in Baltimore, MD.. Johns Hopkins University will also serve as the core site for CT. Dr. Marcelo Di Carli of Brigham and Women's Hospital, a Harvard teaching hospital, in Boston, Mass. will serve as core site for SPECT. And other member will be finalized in a few months.

"We expect CORE320 findings to impact the way the medical community views the role of dynamic volume CT in the diagnosis and treatment of life-threatening diseases," explained Toki. "These results eventually could impact they way patients are diagnosed and treated."

CORE320 is the next phase in Toshiba's mission to validate CT technology through clinical trials. Additional trials include Toshiba's CorE 64 (Coronary Evaluation on 64), which investigated the use of multi-detector CT as the primary diagnostic tool for detecting cardiovascular diseases and disorders, as compared to cardiac catheterization, a costly, invasive technique. Initial findings were presented at the 2007 American Heart Association's annual meeting.

Another Toshiba trial, faCTor⁶⁴, the Screening For Asymptomatic Obstructive Coronary Artery Disease Among High-Risk Diabetic Patients Using CT Angiography, Following CorE 64: is being conducted by Intermountain Healthcare, a community-owned system of nonprofit hospitals and clinics based in Salt Lake City. More than 1,000 patients from Utah, women older than 55 years old and men older than 50 years old, are enrolled in the faCTor⁶⁴ study. Intermountain Healthcare used its diabetes registry of 30,000 patients, who have already received best-practice diabetic care, as a resource to enroll patients. To date, faCTor⁶⁴ is showing very promising results.

Several additional studies to evaluate the clinical impact of Aquilion ONE are being investigated.

Introduced in November 2007, dynamic volume CT scans an entire organ in a single pass and produces 4D videos that show an organ's structure, its movement and blood flow. In comparison, a 64-slice, 128-slice or 256-slice CT scan can only capture a portion of an organ in a single pass, forcing physicians to "stitch together" multiple scans of an organ to get a full image. The new technology helps reduce multiple exposures to radiation and exam time.

*Aquilion ONE™ is a trademark of Toshiba Medical Systems Corporation