GE Healthcare Works to Speed Up Fight Against Cancer
GE Healthcare Works to Speed Up Fight Against Cancer
Innovations and programs advance $1B oncology commitment
Business Wire
CHALFONT ST. GILES, UK -- February 4, 2013
GE Healthcare’s work to accelerate cancer innovation and improve care for
cancer patients reached new milestones in advanced technology.
The campaign is founded on GE Healthcare’s integrated portfolio, which is
uniquely positioned to drive impact in oncology and a leap forward for
individualized cancer care. GE Healthcare launched a series of new oncology
technologies and systems to help advance cancer diagnostic and molecular
imaging in 2012.
“At GE, we are committed to the ongoing fight against cancer, the leading
cause of death worldwide,” said John Dineen, president and CEO, GE Healthcare.
“I’m proud of the investment and innovations that we’ve made over the past
year and look forward to working with our customers and partners to develop
new technologies and oncology solutions. We fully support World Cancer Day on
4 February to highlight the determination of the international community to
fight cancer.”
New Technologies to Help Improve Screening, Diagnosis, and Treatment
* FlightPlan for Liver Cancer Liver cancer is the fifth most common cancer
in men (523,000 cases p/y) and the seventh in women (226,000 cases p/y).
To help physicians accurately identify vessels and block the blood supply
to the tumor (liver embolization), a standard palliative treatment for
liver cancer, GE Healthcare received U.S. FDA clearance in late 2012 for
its advanced imaging tool, FlightPlan for Liver. With FlightPlan for
Liver, available worldwide, physicians can gain confidence in identifying
tumor-feeding vessels and be more selective when planning liver
embolization.
* MR-Guided Focused Ultrasound Therapy for Bone Pain Palliation In October
2012, the U.S. FDA approved Insightec’s ExAblate MRI-guided focused
ultrasound for treatment of painful bone metastases in patients who are
not candidates for or refuse to undergo radiation treatment. InSightec’s
ExAblate system is exclusively compatible with GE Healthcare’s normal and
wide bore systems. It combines therapeutic acoustic ultrasound waves with
continuous guidance and treatment monitoring by MRI. This unique
combination of technologies is called Magnetic Resonance guided Focused
Ultrasound Therapy (MRgFUS). Physicians use MRI to plan and guide therapy
and monitor treatment outcome. Focused ultrasound acoustic energy destroys
nerves causing pain from bone metastases, resulting in rapid pain
reduction. GE Healthcare is a minority shareholder of InSightec, Ltd., and
is a distributor of ExAblate in many countries around the world.
* GE Healthcare Acquires U-Systems, Inc GE Healthcare’s acquisition of a
unique automated breast ultrasound imaging technology positions the
company with a large portfolio of breast imaging solutions. The automated
breast ultrasound system (ABUS) is a powerful tool that can help
physicians find mammographically occult cancers hiding in dense breast
tissue. According to published industry reports, over 40% of women in the
U.S. with dense breast tissue are more likely to get breast cancer than
those without dense breast tissue. Recent studies have demonstrated with
the addition of ABUS that radiologists have found about 30 percent more
cancers in women who have a normal mammogram, normal physical examination
and dense breasts.
* Increasing patient comfort for mammography screenings Healthcare is
personal – particularly for women undergoing mammograms. Designed to
divert a women’s attention away from the discomfort associated with
mammography screenings, SensorySuite from GE Healthcare, now commercially
available, provides a customized environment involving sight, smell and
hearing during an examination. Around 25% of women avoid mammograms
because of worry and fear. SensorySuite now provides a blend of
interactive tools, selected decorative wall panels, with associated sounds
and fragrances to distract the patient from a potentially stressful
examination.
* PET/CT in the fight against cancer GE Healthcare has launched new
technologies in their ‘Q Suite’, enabling clinicians to minimize the
impact and quickly address movement during a PET/CT scan, including thorax
movement while the patient is breathing. These technologies help give
clinicians diagnostic confidence while helping to minimize exposure to
dose.
Continued Development of Omnyx Integrated Digital Pathology
With a combined $100M+ investment, Omnyx is a joint venture of GE Healthcare
and University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC), formed out of a vision to
bring pathology into the digital age and improve the research performance of
pathology departments worldwide. By combining the technology innovation and
backing of GE Healthcare with the pathology expertise and insight of UPMC,
Omnyx is developing an Integrated Digital Pathology Solution. Designed to
integrate the pathology department from image scanning and case preparation to
case review, the Omnyx solution will digitize pathology and raise the
performance standard for digital pathology research solutions. Omnyx
Integrated Digital Pathology (IDP) is the result of extensive collaborations
with more than 30 thought leading pathologists from 13 academic medical
centers and research laboratories around the globe.
Omnyx® products are for research use only. Not for use in diagnostic
procedures.
Cancer Awareness and Support through Social Media
GE Healthcare runs a number of successful global campaigns on social media
that allow people from all over the world to share their story, show their
support to those whose lives are affected by cancer and spread the word on the
importance of early diagnosis. The Company has been recognized with external
industry awards for its #GetFit campaign, a worldwide competition on multiple
social media platforms to raise public awareness about cancer prevention. Find
out more about #GetFit and other cancer awareness initiatives here.
-ends-
About GE Healthcare
GE Healthcare provides transformational medical technologies and services to
meet the demand for increased access, enhanced quality and more affordable
healthcare around the world. GE (NYSE: GE) works on things that matter - great
people and technologies taking on tough challenges. From medical imaging,
software & IT, patient monitoring and diagnostics to drug discovery,
biopharmaceutical manufacturing technologies and performance improvement
solutions, GE Healthcare helps medical professionals deliver great healthcare
to their patients.
For our latest news, please visit http://newsroom.gehealthcare.com
Contact:
Will Spiers
Global Public Relations Director
GE Healthcare
+44 7971 276757
william.spiers@ge.com
Sponsored Links
Advertisement
Advertisements
Sponsored Links
Advertisement
Rate this Page