NEW HEALTH CARE TECHNOLOGY FROM GE TARGETS DETECTION OF EARLY HEART ATTACK SYMPTOMS IN WOMEN
Software accounts for gender-specific differences in electrocardiograms (ECG), designed for more accurate diagnoses and more timely heart-attack treatment for women
ATLANTA,(March 17, 2002) – A new healthcare technology could improve chances of survival for thousands of women each year by helping doctors more accurately detect the symptoms of a heart attack.
The gender-specific issue is receiving increased attention among the healthcare industry. In fact, the Medical College of Wisconsin are conducting research on how the early stages of heart attack show gender-specific differences in heart rhythms as measured by electrocardiographs (ECGs), which trace the heart’s electrical activity.
ECG software developed by GE Medical Systems Information Technologies that takes these differences into account has been shown to improve the detection of heart attack in women – mainly those under age 60 – by as much as 14 percent. Better diagnosis gives doctors the information they need to recommend aggressive and potentially life-saving treatment for women heart patients when necessary.
“To assess males and females, clinicians have relied on traditional ECG analysis software,” said Mike Genau, Vice President of Cardiology Systems at GE Medical Systems Information Technologies, based in Milwaukee, Wis. “This breakthrough technology uses female data to remove an unintended gender bias in the detection of heart attack, so doctors can help improve outcomes for many younger women suffering from heart attack.”
Missed diagnosis of heart attack is part of the serious health problem that is heart disease. More than 500,000 women in the United States are likely to die from heart disease this year alone – more than from stroke, lung cancer and breast cancer combined.
All told, an estimated 8 million Americans each year visit emergency rooms with chest pain. However, that diagnosis is missed in up to 320,000 of those patients – 58 percent of them women.
Thus women are more likely than men to be incorrectly sent home with clean bills of health. More disturbing, the death rate associated with these missed diagnoses is 11 percent or more, and women are more likely than men to die after heart attack, either in the hospital or within two years after discharge. “Gender-based research has historically been scarce and short on any definitive conclusions,” said Dr. Noel Camba, M.D., Cardiologist, Suburban Heights Medical Center, St. James Hospital and Health Center’s Women Take Heart Study (Chicago Heights, Ill.), in conjunction with Rush Presbyterian St. Luke’s Medical Center. “Research and technology incorporated into GE's 12SL software program will go a long way in increasing the understanding of the fundamental differences in the ECG characteristics of men versus women. The logical implementation of gender-specific criteria may over time, through widely adopted practice, have a dramatic clinical impact for the cardiologist and application in the emergency medicine setting.”
“The new technology found on the MAC 5000 electrocardiograph is truly remarkable,” said Dr. Freidon Ghazi, MD, FACC, Cardiology Associates of Cincinnati, President, Medical Staff for Mercy Franciscan Hospital – Mt. Airy (Cincinnati). “Gender specific ECG criteria on the 12SL interpretive algorithm will have a tremendous impact on the diagnosis of female patients with chest pain suspicion of being a myocardial infarction. We expect GE to deliver the latest innovations, and this product fits well into our overall commitment for excellence for a comprehensive cardiology suite at Mercy Franciscan.”
“In initial studies of ECG readings, researchers at the Medical College of Wisconsin are finding that women about to suffer heart attacks may show much more subtle abnormalities than do men. An abnormality in an ECG reading that would be considered insignificant in a man may indicate the onset of a heart attack in a woman,” added Dr. Ghazi.
To help physicians detect heart attack more consistently in women, GE developed new gender-specific, computerized calculations for its ECG analysis software program. The result is an easy-to-use tool that helps doctors make more confident diagnoses, even if they read ECGs only occasionally. It also helps expert ECG interpreters reach definitive diagnoses in less time.
“In effect, the gender specific software provides doctors with a consistent and repeatable 'second opinion,'” said Genau. “As such, it can help keep doctors from overlooking signs of heart attack, to improve the likelihood that a woman will receive the most appropriate level of care.”
About GE Medical Systems Information Technologies
GE Medical Systems Information Technologies provides hospitals and healthcare systems with advanced software and technologies to improve their clinical performance. The Company’s expertise spans the areas of cardiology, patient monitoring, image management, clinical communications, clinical information systems and Six Sigma-based management tools to enable a real-time, integrated electronic medical record. GE Medical Systems Information Technologies is a business of GE Medical Systems, an $8 billion global leader in medical imaging and technology. Additional information about GE Medical Systems can be found at gemedicalsystems.com.
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