GE Healthcare launches new software for diagnosing osteoporosis at Arab Health 2009

Dubai, UAE; January 28, 2009: GE Healthcare has launched new software for diagnosing osteoporosis on display at Arab Health 2009, the region’s premier healthcare event. The new software will play an integral role in strengthening early diagnosis of the disease, which according to the International Osteoporosis Foundation (IOF) is of increasing concern to the Middle East. In fact, the Emirates Osteoporosis Society (EOS) was established due to the continuously increasing prevalence of low bone mass among the residents of the UAE.

According to IOF, one in three women and one in five men globally over 50 years of age will experience osteoporotic fractures, and 30 to 50 per cent of women, and 15 to 30 per cent of men will suffer an osteoporosis related fracture in their lifetime. IOF also presents evidence that many women who sustain a fragility fracture are not appropriately diagnosed and treated for probable osteoporosis, and that a great majority of individuals at high risk, who have already had at least one osteoporotic fracture, are neither identified nor treated. In Saudi Arabia, with a population of over 1.46 million people aged 50 years or more, over 8,000 people suffer femoral (thigh bone) fractures at a cost of about USD 1.14 billion.

GE Healthcare is a leading provider of systems that calculate a T-score based on an individual’s bone mineral density (BMD) for the diagnosis of osteoporosis. The FRAXä Fracture Risk Tool uses this BMD measurement plus other risk factors to estimate the likelihood of a person will break a bone over a period of ten years. FRAXä, together with new National Osteoporosis Foundation (NOF) guidelines, provides clinicians with an enhanced ability to identify people at high fracture risk, and to help assure they are recommended for treatment.

“We are delighted to incorporate FRAXä into our 2009 software release,” said Laura Stoltenberg, General Manager, GE Healthcare Lunar. “It brings us one step closer to making GE Healthcare’s “Early Health” vision a reality with early identification of those at risk for a devastating fracture. If a patient clearly understands their risk, they will most likely be more inclined to take preventive measures, thus saving themselves and their families future pain.”

Developed by the World Health Organization (WHO) and Dr. John A. Kanis, professor emeritus at the University of Sheffield in the United Kingdom, FRAXä is endorsed by the IOF and the NOF in its new Clinician’s Guide to Prevention and Treatment of Osteoporosis (2008).

The new solutions for diagnosing osteoporosis are on display at the GE Healthcare stand (Hall 4 - Stand D20) at the exhibition in the Dubai International Exhibition Centre.

GE Healthcare launches Lullaby™ Incubator TR and Lullaby™ Incubator XP for treatment of neonates at Arab Health Congress

Dubai, UAE; January 28, 2009: GE Healthcare, the US$17 billion healthcare business of General Electric Company (GE), today launches for the first time in the Middle East its Lullaby™ Incubator XP and Lullaby™ Incubator TR. These new incubators provide for the management of thermally sensitive infants in Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICU) and during transport. The Lullaby™ XP and Lullaby™ TR will be on display during this week’s Arab Health Congress in Dubai.
Both Lullaby™ XP and TR, designed and developed at GE’s R&D Center in Turkey, are part of a MIC program to make high end technology more affordable, reliable and more accessible to larger segments of society. GE Healthcare plans to export the incubator systems across the Middle East as well as to Europe, Latin America and Asia Pacific.
According to Hisham Youssef, General Manager Ultrasound, Middle East, Africa & Turkey of GE Healthcare,“GE’s clinical partnerships, technology leadership and continuous investment in healthcare solutions allow us to invite healthcare’s top physicians ‘to the drawing board’ to re-imagine healthcare solutions. Together, we’re developing innovative healthcare solutions to help address some of today’s most pressing healthcare issues such as improving access to quality care in rural communities and developing regions of the world and, in developed regions, shifting to an ‘Early Health’ model of care.”
According to various neonatal experts, Prematurity is one of the most common conditions requiring medical attention in newborns. There are approximately 138 million newborns delivered in the world annually. About 10-12 per cent of these infants are premature and require some support to manage their body temperature in the NICU.
GE’s Lullaby Incubator XP combines high levels of clinical performance and with a simple flexible design, and easy to read controls for skin and air temperature. Our Lullaby XP creates an advanced microenvironment that enables providers to spend more time on direct patient care and less time on system operation.

Our Lullaby TR creates a stable transport environment for neonates that enable the provider to transfer the smallest and most vulnerable patients reliably and efficiently. Both Lullaby™ XP and Lullaby™ TR assist healthcare professionals in supporting the specialized needs of patients and families across the entire maternal-infant continuum.

“As a part of our overall business strategy, GE Healthcare plans to design and acquire products in varied segments to become a complete solutions provider in the healthcare and life sciences space. With our recent tie up with AMS, we have now started manufacturing these products in Turkey to expand our Maternal-Infant care portfolio. We plan to explore further opportunities to tap other potential segments,” added Hisham Youssef.
GE Healthcare, aims to bring high quality, advanced technology MIC systems such as the Lullaby™ Incubator XP and Lullaby™ Incubator TR to market, to address the growing needs of mothers and babies. GE is currently expanding its MIC and imaging products.

GE Healthcare showcases world’s first high-definition CT scanner and breakthrough 3.0T MR scanner at Arab Health 2009

Dubai, UAE; January 26, 2009: GE Healthcare, a global leader in imaging and in dose reduction technologies, is showcasing Discovery CT750 HD, the world’s first high definition CT (Computed Tomography) scanner and Discovery MR750 3.0T, a breakthrough that breaks the bonds of traditional MR (Magnetic Resonance) scanning. Also highlighted is the LightSpeed VCT XTe configuration, a new low-dose evolution of the proven LightSpeed VCT. Launched for the first time in the region, these systems with clinical images will be on display at Arab Health 2009, the premier healthcare exhibition being held at Dubai International Convention Centre.

The Discovery CT750HD and Discovery MR750 3.0T are the first of their kind to the region and of great relevance to healthcare professionals here, as they enable early diagnosis of cancers and cardiac diseases, and can potentially help ease the burden of rising healthcare costs faced by the Middle East region.

Discovery CT750 HD will set the new standard for CT clarity, delivering the vision and the tools to allow clinicians to diagnose quickly and confidently. The remarkable technology of Discovery MR750 makes routine exams faster, advanced exams routine and every scan becomes a study in speed.

Discovery CT750 HD
GE engineers discovered that, by changing the molecular structure of real garnets, they could develop a scintillator capable of delivering images 100 times faster, with up to 33 per cent greater detail through the body and up to 47 per cent greater detail in the heart. They had unlocked the secret of the proprietary GE Gemstone Detector™, boasting the fastest primary speed in the CT industry, and the driving force of the first of its kind: “Gemstone Spectral Imaging” process.

Gemstone Spectral Imaging offers outstanding capabilities of characterization with the material decomposition images and exceptional image enhancement with the 101 user selectable energy levels, dual energy fast kV switching. CT750 HD registers energies at least 165 times faster than Dual Source CT technologies.

It brings faster, clearer images into today’s demanding health care environment without sacrificing the element patients and clinicians demand most: radiation dose reduction. CT750 HD improves image quality while reducing dose by up to 50 per cent across the entire body and by as much as 83 per cent for cardiac scans.

“This is a game changer,” said Gene Saragnese, Vice President and General Manager of GE Healthcare’s global CT and Molecular Imaging businesses. “We are delivering the customer-driven future of CT and we couldn’t be prouder of the product their feedback has created. The Discovery CT750 HD brings us right to the edge of early health, our vision here at GE Healthcare. It’s now up to us to take this technological leap and move into the future. That’s CT Re-imagined.”


Proven Today, Prepared for Tomorrow: LightSpeed VCT XTe
GE continues to focus on providing capabilities that help healthcare providers deliver clinical excellence and better patient care through exceptional image quality and reduced dose. At Arab Health this year, GE is unveiling the LightSpeed VCT XTe, a new generation of scanners built from the proven LightSpeed VCT platform and enhanced with HD Technologies.

First launched in 2004, the LightSpeed VCT ushered in a new era of diagnostic capability with 5-Beat Cardiac, head-to-toe body scans in 10 seconds for trauma assessment and a stroke workup program. More recently, GE introduced its exclusive SnapShot Pulse™, the industry’s first prospectively gated low dose diagnostic cardiac acquisition mode. The LightSpeed VCT has been selected more often than any other scanner in its class, a testament to its proven clinical value.

Discovery™ MR750 3.0T
Equipped with the industry’s most powerful gradients, Express Exam workflow features and the company’s advanced Thermal Management System, the Discovery MR750 delivers up to 60 per cent additional anatomical coverage and resolution unit per time. The system significantly improves the imaging performance over previous generations, increasing the freedom for advanced application development, including: a routine liver exam in 15 minutes and a full breast exam in only two sequences.

“GE is committed to pushing the boundaries for MRI capabilities and we believe this new product will do that now and in the future,” said Jim Davis, Vice President and General Manager of GE Healthcare’s global MR business. “We expect this product to be a robust and clinically capable MR system that will simplify MR exams without compromising quality or productivity.”

Driven by customer demands for improved clinical capabilities, the Discovery MR750 has been designed around clinical workflow needs with a strong focus on improving productivity. With that in mind, the system also includes operational efficiencies such as the newly designed detachable patient table and the first ever in-room operator console.

In addition, the Discovery MR750 features automated protocols. This aspect of the system allows for more focused attention on the patient and consistent protocols and processing across operating technicians. Together, these features reduce setup time in the scanner room by up to 70 per cent and additionally, the newly designed user interface reduces the number of steps by as much as 68 per cent.

GE Healthcare highlights enhanced IT solutions to strengthen e-Health and virtual imaging in the Middle East

Dubai, UAE; January 26, 2009: Stepping in to support the Middle East region’s commitment to strengthen e-Healthcare delivery and virtual imaging, GE Healthcare has rolled out a series of enhanced IT solutions, currently, on display at Arab Health 2009, the premier healthcare exhibition ongoing at the Dubai International Convention Center.

These technological developments for image and information management empower any hospital IT infrastructure with e-Health enabling tools. The focus of these solutions is on information exchange, sharing workflow and building the virtual radiology and imaging department.

Across the region, healthcare providers are increasingly faced with the challenges of dealing with growing populations, rising operational costs, and the need to increase quality of care while decreasing medical errors. GE Healthcare’s investments have helped drive healthcare IT advancements in the Middle East, contributing to the development of such areas as informatics and genomic research in the region while also allowing for faster, more effective treatments in everything from radiology to cardiology to ophthalmology.

“We are proud to introduce several enhanced solutions at this year’s Arab Health,” said Juergen Reyinger, Vice President & General Manager of GE Healthcare’s IT business. “Our solutions can definitely advance healthcare across the region. It is especially effective for those who are intensely looking for digital technologies in order to cope with the demographic, economic and social challenges in today’s rapidly changing and growing environment.”

Centricity Advanced Web and PACS-IW
The new applications Centricity Advanced Web and PACS-IW (Web-based Picture Archiving and Communication System) are the ideal complement to the existing solutions portfolio. For a referring physician, radiologist or clinician, the solution enables easy and fast Web-based image access with state-of-the-art applications, fast image display and clinical tools.

Centricity PACS-IW fulfills the expectations of small installations and meets the increasing demand of referring physicians for advanced post processing tools. The new Web-based PACS solution is user-friendly, easy and fast to install yet offers modern clinical tools like MIP/MPR (Maximum or Minimum Intensity Projection/ Multiple Planar Reconstruction) and advanced 3D technology to easily evaluate huge sets of data.

Centricity Advanced Web, as an addition to the Centricity Enterprise PACS, is the ideal solution for high expectations of clinicians who want to stay flexible, need a rich set of tools and wish to immediately discuss diagnostic results with their patients. Starting from a pulmologist to a neurologist or orthopedist, all of them see their requirements fulfilled. Even with a low bandwidth, the solution grants access to a big set of tools with a simple internet connection: MIP/MPR, integrated ultrasound, mammography and orthopedic tools, easy second opinion consulting, printing and burning of CDs from any PC and a lot more.


Centricity Imaging Portal
The new Centricity Imaging Portal facilitates cross hospital workload balance, multi-disciplinary clinical consulting, tele-radiology and home reporting, data care and privacy as well as a de-centralized workflow in a XDS (Cross Document Sharing) enabled environment. IT takes multi-disciplinary information sharing to the next level.

In a cross-hospital and a multi-vendor IHE and XDS compliant environment the Centricity Imaging Portal allows access to a global patient history, facilitates multi-disciplinary conferences and secure Web-access to images and documents. The goal is to share a common workflow rather than pure information, thus taking a step beyond radiology.

Cardiology IT Solutions
This commitment to interoperability can also be seen in GE Healthcare’s Cardiology IT Solutions. Together with RIS/PACS (Radiology Information System / Picture Archiving and Communication System) the system meets the cardiologist’s demand for advanced data management and PACS capabilities in a common infrastructure for cardiology and radiology. Centricity CA1000 and AW-Suite are a successful combination of review possibilities and state-of-the-art 3D analysis tools in an interoperable care environment.

The new version Centricity Carddas Xi² 3.0 introduces a functional area for cardiology examinations in MR allowing an extremely fast diagnosis of MR images. Besides, Carddas offers a set of new features like the shift to NET™ technology, the graphically advanced statistics tool to display statistical results, the scheduler for effective time management and an additional tap for clinical vessel based reporting.

The appointment of a dedicated general manager for GE Healthcare’s IT Sales Eastern and Africa Growth Regions (EAGM) business is another key decision to further strengthening GE’s position in these markets. The new leader, Sia Moussavi, with an 11-year longstanding career at GE Healthcare, brings tremendous Sales and Services experience.

“I am very privileged to have the opportunity to support our people and teams in this region,” said Sia Moussavi. “The EAGM region is an important growth area for our company and we will continue to invest in our people and business there. My priorities are to grow and strengthen the team and to shape our organization around the expectations and demands of our customers.”

GE Healthcare introduces new 1.5T Magnetic Resonance Imaging System at Arab Health 2009

Dubai, UAE; January 26, 2009: GE Healthcare, today, unveiled in the Middle East region the new 1.5T magnetic resonance (MR) scanner, Discovery™ MR450, at Arab Health 2009, the region’s premier healthcare expo.

The Discovery™ MR450 offers some of the most advanced capabilities available on any 1.5T system, including real-time cardiac imaging, single-acquisition, multi-contrast abdominal images with outstanding fat/water separation and ultra high-resolution musculoskeletal exams with high patient throughput.

Jim Davis, Vice President & General Manager for GE Healthcare’s global MR business, said: “The Discovery™ MR450 combines unique workflow features with the advanced MR acquisition technology in the industry, allowing our customers to more easily conduct challenging exams, improve productivity, and become the leaders in their field. It will be of particular relevance to the Middle East region, where early detection of diseases will make treatments easier and cost-effective.”

Built around the company’s proven short-bore, superconducting 1.5T magnet — the Discovery™ MR450 delivers high homogeneity for excellent results even when imaging with a large or off-center field of view (FOV). Workflow and productivity issues are also addressed with the new system with gains of up to 60 per cent additional anatomical coverage and resolution per unit time compared to conventional systems, increased acquisition speed over previous generations of 1.5T systems.

GE’s Discovery™ MR450 features several new advanced applications, including: SWAN (T2 Star Weighted Angiography), which combines a unique 3D T2*-based multi-echo acquisition with a special reconstruction algorithm. It generates several echoes, which are read out at different TE times, and compiles magnetic signatures of a range of tissues with varying degrees of T2* contrast.

With SWAN, users can visualize major vessels and large vascular structures, accurately delineate small vessels and microbleeds, assess iron and calcium deposits in tissue and image the whole brain in 3D high resolution in just 4 minutes.

The new GE suite of Inhance Non-Contrast Enhanced MR Angiography (MRA) applications is robust, fast and easy to use. Inhance sequences deliver consistent, reproducible images even in difficult-to-scan anatomies, for fewer rescans and confident differential diagnoses.