Comparing GE Discovery PET/CT Scanners
Josh Nunez: April 22, 2024
The moment you begin your search for a CT scanner, the GE brand will be at the forefront- and with good reason. GE CTs consistently offer users quality, reliability, and value. If GE is in the running for your next scanner purchase, we want to help you know what to expect from a budgetary standpoint. To that end, find current average price ranges for GE CT scanner models that can be found on the secondary market below.
Single-Slice
By this point, single-slice CT scanners have mostly fallen out of use and the cost to move and install one will outweigh the value the system can bring for patients. Because no one is really selling or buying these anymore, there isn't a typical price range for the GE CT/i, CT/e, or X/i.
Four-Slice and Eight-Slice
Veterinary hospitals may still find some value in four and eight-slice scanners, but few facilities still use these for human patients. A facility looking for a CT at this slice count is likely to spend $30,000 or less for a LightSpeed Plus, a LightSpeed Ultra 8, or a BrightSpeed 8.
16-Slice
Sixteen-slice scanners are the current bread-and-butter of CT imaging. GE systems at this count are reliable, easy to service, and available at some of the best prices ever due to high supply. A LightSpeed 16 or BrightSpeed 16 can be found for $80,000 - $110,000 with installation.
64-Slice
Imaging facilities that want to provide cardiac studies or serve a higher volume of patients might find a good fit in a 64-slice system. The popular LightSpeed VCT 64 is a good place to start in this slice count, enjoying the same parts and service availability as its 16-slice counterparts. A refurbished VCT 64 currently sells for $120,000 - $140,000 installed.
The Optima 750HD is another 64-slice option that sometimes crops up on the secondary market. These are harder to find than the VCT because they are still relatively new, but they do offer Gemstone Spectral Imaging (GSI) detectors and usually have more comprehensive cardiac software features. If you can find a pre-owned Optima 750HD, you can expect to pay $200,000 - $300,000 for the system and installation.
GE Optima 660
The Optima 660 gets its own category because it comes in several slice count configurations. Units with 32, 64, and 128-channel detectors are available. These systems are very new, nearly all of them come with ASIR, and they can be enabled with the Overlapped Recon-Axial option to reconstruct up to 128 images per rotation. Like the 750HD, Optima 660 systems are still somewhat rare. When an Optima 660 turns up on the secondary market, it's likely to cost between $200,000 and $300,000 installed.
The Takeaway
While GE's competitors often run neck-and-neck with them in terms of technology, GE consistently maintains an advantage in ease of service and availability of parts. If you're in the market for a CT that seldom has issues and is easy to fix when it does, GE is certainly a manufacturer worth considering.
If you have other questions about GE CT equipment, service, or parts, our team is ready to help. Click below to tell us how we can serve you!
