GE Healthcare's Discovery PET/CT Systems Offer a New Diagnostic Imaging Option for Fighting Cardiovascular Disease
NEW ORLEANS — Today at the American College of Cardiology’s annual meeting, GE Healthcare introduced a new diagnostic imaging tool for detecting and diagnosing heart disease. This technology, part of GE’s Discovery series, is a PET/CT system optimized specifically for non-invasive cardiac imaging.
GE’s Discovery PET/CT cardiac imaging technology provides physicians with a comprehensive, non-invasive assessment of coronary artery disease. With a single Discovery PET/CT exam, physicians gain access to essential metabolic and anatomical data including a heart perfusion map at rest and stress, CT angiography, as well as a cardiac calcium score. This information can help physicians more accurately diagnose cardiac patients, improve the overall course of treatment, and help eliminate unnecessary invasive procedures.
GE’s Discovery PET/CT systems apply a new advanced application called HeartFusion™ that maximizes the benefits of the exam by aligning the vascular coronary tree created by CT images on the three-dimensional functional data from PET images. Together, Discovery PET/CT with HeartFusion allows physicians to quantify and analyze the impact of the atherosclerotic lesions on the heart muscle. HeartFusion was developed in collaboration with Emory University and is offered exclusively from GE Healthcare through a licensing agreement with Syntermed, Inc.
“PET/CT with HeartFusion provides, for the first time, a tool to non-invasively evaluate fused coronary anatomy and myocardial perfusion information for a more comprehensive assessment of coronary artery disease,” said Ernest V. Garcia, Ph.D., Professor and Vice Chairman (Research), Department of Radiology, Emory University Hospital. “This exam has the potential to eventually replace diagnostic invasive coronary arteriography in specific patient populations.”
Designed as a fully integrated system, Discovery is the only PET/CT system in the industry that provides 2D, 3D, 4D and dynamic imaging capabilities, CT-attenuation correction, the highest sensitivity as well as dedicated cardiac advanced applications. All of these features are required for optimal cardiac imaging.
Marcelo Di Carli M.D., Director of Nuclear Medicine/PET at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, is a recognized pioneer in cardiovascular imaging using PET systems. “The PET/CT technology integrated with the HeartFusion software developed by GE Healthcare continues to set the industry standard for vitally important quantitative myocardial perfusion imaging,” he said. “This is an important tool in cardiac patient care and treatment.”
According to Karim Benali M.D., MSc, Global Manager, Cardiology PET/CT and Nuclear Medicine at GE Healthcare, “We are entering a new era in non-invasive cardiac imaging where PET/CT technology can play a significant role in managing heart disease. Discovery is the world’s first and only PET/CT technology for cardiac imaging, which can help physicians detect coronary atherosclerosis earlier, and help them to define more effective therapies.”
About GE Healthcare
GE Healthcare is a $10 billion global leader in medical imaging, point-of-care systems, healthcare services, and information technology. Its offerings include networking and productivity tools, clinical information systems, patient monitoring systems, anesthesia and respiratory care, maternal-infant care systems, surgery and vascular imaging, conventional and digital X-ray, dental imaging, computed tomography, electron beam tomography, magnetic resonance, ultrasound and bone mineral densitometry, positron emission tomography, nuclear medicine, and a comprehensive portfolio of clinical and business services. For more than 100 years, health care providers worldwide have relied on GE Healthcare for high quality medical technology and productivity solutions. For more information, visit the GE Healthcare Web site at www.gemedical.com.
HeartFusion is a trademark of Emory University.
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