On Sept. 30 2021, Siemens Healthineers announced the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) 510 (k) clearance of the Naeotom Alpha, the worldﾒs first photon-counting computer tomograph.

p>With a novel system concept and pioneering new detector technology, it ushered in a new era in computed tomography, a technology that determines the course of many medical decisions.

The photon-counting CT detector developed by Siemens Healthineers no longer converts the X-rays into visible light. The X-ray photons are converted directly into completely digital electrical signals and then counted without information loss. This adds a wealth of completely new clinically relevant information and improves image sharpness and contrast.