c.cam

Credit: Siemens Medical Solutions

Nuclear cardiac studies require the patient to remain motionless for up to 45 minutes in order to acquire a diagnostic image that is free of "motion artifacts." Previously, patients were required to lie down on a flat board, which was fed into a huge doughnut-shaped gantry. The c.cam provides a reclining chair for subjects and moves them gently into the imaging position. This feature greatly reduces movement, as a comfortable person is less likely to move. The open design also reduces patient claustrophobia and the extremely small footprint uses half the floor space of a conventional gamma camera.

When the program was initiated, Siemens had a relatively low market share of about 20 percent in the growing cardiac camera market. Competitors were offering cheaper products, but Siemens didn’t want to enter a price war, so the company decided to design a product that was tailored to the needs small cardiology practices. With the introduction of the c.cam, Siemens raised its market share to over 45 percent within one year and is now in a solid leadership position in terms of sales volume. The product also created an unexpected demand in other markets such as Europe, Japan and Latin America.

Data provided by IDSA

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