GE Healthcare Spotlights Latest Innovations At American College Of Cardiology Meeting

Main Category: Cardiovascular / Cardiology
Article Date: 31 Mar 2008 - 4:00 PDT

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GE Healthcare, the global leader in healthcare technology, continually strives to re-invent and re-imagine its product portfolio. Some of its latest innovations are on display this week at the 57th annual meeting of the American College of Cardiology (ACC) in Chicago. With sights set on enabling a new "early health" model of care focused on earlier diagnosis, pre-symptomatic disease detection and prevention, GE Healthcare is showcasing the following developments in Interventional, Diagnostic and Ultrasound Cardiology at Booth #3075 on the Hall A exhibition floor:

The all-new mobile, streamlined Vivid S5 cardiovascular ultrasound system designed as a dedicated cardiovascular solution for various care areas, from the hospital and clinic to the physician's office. Its practical, easy-to-use design delivers strong performance and excellent image quality while its stress echo capabilities and raw data DICOM (Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine) expand the reach of patient examinations.

The two latest advanced CT applications for the Advantage Workstation, CardIQ Xpress 2.0 and CardIQ Function Xpress, give clinicians non-invasive alternatives to evaluate coronary arteries, heart function and help diagnose heart disease.

The newest version of GE's Centricity Cardiology (v4.1) addresses the paperwork challenge for labs needing to qualify for Medicare reimbursement on ICD (implanted cardioverter defibrillator) procedures. Labs no longer need to report ICD outcomes to the ACC-ICD registry using the long, tedious, mistake-prone process of the past.

The Innova 3100IQ cardiovascular xray system, designed to maintain exceptional image quality across a broad range of clinical applications. Automated simplicity and ease of use allow clinicians to focus on their patients, not the system itself.

Innova Promise, GE Healthcare's service commitment to remotely monitor each Innova system through an InSite Broadband connection to detect exam interruptions and potential failures. The independently top-ranked program, which comes standard with every Innovaâ X-ray system service contract, allows GE Remote Engineers to detect primary items such as low fluid levels and temperature and humidity spikes as well as detect more complex issues involving the mechanical and electrical functionality of the system.

GE Healthcare's Medical Diagnostics business will again sponsor the SCAI/GE Healthcare Fellows Grant Program. The fellows program provides grants to invasive/interventional cardiologists-in-training who have made outstanding contributions to angiography and diagnostic imaging research. Four applicants are awarded a trip to the SCAI (Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions) annual scientific sessions plus a two-year SCAI membership. Two of the final four receive a one-year grant of $30,000 to support their cardiology research. The newest version of GE's featured MUSE ECG data management system, incorporating upgrades in information technology, ECG management processes and clinical report editing in an all-digital environment for truly paperless workflow.

"This show, on an annual basis, gives our cardiology teams the opportunity to showcase the latest developments as we drive toward our vision of 'early health,'" said Omar Ishrak, president and CEO of GE Healthcare's Clinical Systems division. "'Because early detection and prevention are less costly, more effective and simpler than late stage treatment, 'early health' is just good medicine. At GE Healthcare, we believe we're perfectly positioned to make that transformational promise into a reality."

About GE Healthcare

GE Healthcare provides transformational medical technologies and services that are shaping a new age of patient care. Our expertise in medical imaging and information technologies, medical diagnostics, patient monitoring systems, performance improvement, drug discovery, and biopharmaceutical manufacturing technologies is helping clinicians around the world re-imagine new ways to predict, diagnose, inform, treat and monitor disease, so patients can live their lives to the fullest.

GE Healthcare's broad range of products and services enable healthcare providers to better diagnose and treat cancer, heart disease, neurological diseases and other conditions earlier. Our vision for the future is to enable a new "early health" model of care focused on earlier diagnosis, pre-symptomatic disease detection and disease prevention. Headquartered in the United Kingdom, GE Healthcare is a $17 billion unit of General Electric Company (NYSE: GE). Worldwide, GE Healthcare employs more than 46,000 people committed to serving healthcare professionals and their patients in more than 100 countries. For more information about GE Healthcare, visit our website at http://www.gehealthcare.com.