GE Healthcare launches high definition MR in India

EPP News Bureau - Kolkata

GE Healthcare, a division of General Electric Company, launched in India the High Definition Magnetic Resonance (HDMR) system. This breakthrough technology, which was introduced in the US in December 2004, features five critical MR applications that have been developed or co-developed by GE’s engineering and scientific teams located in Bangalore.

According to a release issued by the company, HDMR will, for the first time, provide physicians with unprecedented image clarity in cases where patients are difficult to image due to movement. This includes uncontrollable patient motion due to Parkinson’s disease, trauma, stroke, general restlessness, anxiety and also paediatric patients who do not respond to sedation.

‘‘GE Healthcare is committed to bringing the latest healthcare technologies to India. The launch of HDMR technology is yet another step towards achieving GE’s vision of personalised healthcare in India. By introducing this new technology in the Indian market, we are responding to a critical need for both clinicians and patients to provide better health care. As with India’s first GE PET/CT installed at Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai in December 2004, we expect HDMR to become a gold standard in MR examinations in our country,’’ said V Raja, president & CEO, GE Healthcare Technologies, South Asia.

‘‘HD technology paves the way for an extremely wide range of targeted applications. This new MR technology now allows physicians to image patients where it was previously impossible to consistently obtain diagnostic images,’’ said Raja. ‘‘Looking towards the future, GE Healthcare is developing disease-specific and patient-specific diagnostic ‘systems’ optimising imaging equipment and imaging agents to produce synergistic, unparalleled results for patients,’’ he added in the release.

‘‘The power of HD technology reaps meaningful rewards in my clinical practices,’’ said Dr Mike Bourne, Director of Radiology, University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff and Vale NHS Trust, Cardiff, United Kingdom. ‘‘Dedicated high density coils facilitate throughput and enable high definition scanning resulting in dramatic images reminiscent of those provided by HDTV. It provides a ‘can’t miss’ quality in challenging circumstances.’’

A full cardiac function exam can be completed in just two minutes; the entire liver of a large patient can now be scanned in a single breath-hold every time; consistently excellent image quality can be obtained on uncooperative paediatric patients without sedation or anaesthesia; imaging of both breasts in high resolution can be completed in one patient visit; and high-resolution detail can now be obtained from critical vessels of the foot.

‘‘This new GE technology dramatically improves MR imaging speed and quality, allowing clinicians to obtain vast amounts of data in a short time and perform MR studies that otherwise would be compromised,’’ said Giridhar Baliga, Business Manager, MR, GE Healthcare Technologies, South Asia.

According to recent studies, 25 to 30 percent of all head MR studies are compromised by some amount of patient movement, which can impact patient diagnosis. However, GE’s exclusive HDMR technology, Propeller, provides uncompromised images of the brain despite patient motion.

‘‘HDMR will make a real difference in patient diagnosis by providing GE exclusive applications that enable physicians to consistently perform the highly targeted studies they’ve been wanting to do, but couldn’t because of patient motion or the challenge of imaging diabetic patients with lower blood flow to the lower legs — which if left untreated can even lead to amputation,’’ said Baliga.

GE’s exclusive HDMR technology now enables five exclusive, targeted MR applications with tremendous clinical benefits. All of these five unique, critical applications are developed or co-developed by our engineering and scientist teams located in Bangalore.

GE Healthcare provides transformational medical technologies that will shape a new age of patient care. GE Healthcare’s expertise in medical imaging and information technologies, medical diagnostics, patient monitoring systems, disease research, drug discovery and biopharmaceuticals is dedicated to detecting disease earlier and tailoring treatment for individual patients.