At the moment, there are two clinical, commercially available Dual Source CT (DSCT) scanners: the SOMATOM Definition and the SOMATOM Definition Flash (both by Siemens AG, Forchheim, Germany). Each of them contains two X-ray tubes and two detectors which are mounted so that the X-ray beams are approximately perpendicular to each other.
For dual energy scan modes, the SOMATOM Definition is operated at 80 kV/140 kV, while the SOMATOM Definition Flash has an additional tin filter (Sn) and is typically used at 100 kV/Sn140 kV. This allows for high-quality DE scans also in the case of lager patient diameters, where 80 kV typically cannot be applied.
The commercially available software syngo Dual Energy (Siemens AG) accompanies the scanners and uses image-based dual-energy analysis to perform, for example, automatic bone removal, monoenergetic imaging, lung perfusion imaging, or virtual noncontrast imaging. Due to the extremely fast scanning speed and simultaneous data acquisition at full dose modulation, Dual Source, Dual Energy CT (DECT) is fully applicable in routine use.