PHILADELPHIA -- General Electric Company (NYSE: GE) In the fight against heart and cardiovascular disease, conditions that account for more than one out of four deaths globally,¹ GE Healthcare has developed industry-leading functional imaging technologies that are helping physicians worldwide detect, diagnose and define more effective therapies.

Today at the Society of Nuclear Medicine (SNM) annual meeting, GE Healthcare showcased its innovative cardiac solutions, including advanced applications on the Discovery ST positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) system, the Infinia Hawkeye hybrid imaging technology and Myoview™², a leading myocardial perfusion imaging agent.

Leading Clinicians Recognize New Advanced Cardiac Capabilities of Discovery PET/CT/

“We are entering a new era in non-invasive cardiology where hybrid imaging will play a major role in managing heart disease,” said Karim Benali M.D., MSc, Global Manager, Cardiology PET/CT and Nuclear Medicine at GE Healthcare.

Discovery PET/CT technology, designed for cardiac imaging, can help physicians detect coronary atherosclerosis earlier and help them to define more effective therapies. “Clinicians have been pleased with the performance of the technology,” said Benali. “Hundreds of patients already have benefited from this technology within the last few months.”

GE’s 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.

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 ST 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 developed by GE Healthcare integrated with the HeartFusion software continues to set the industry standard for quantifying ischemia and localizing coronary stenoses," he said. "This is an important tool in for diagnosis and for planning patient management."

According to Kevin Berger, MD, director of PET/CT and assistant professor of radiology at Michigan State University, Discovery ST and HeartFusion represent the forefront of technology and the future of premiere, non-invasive diagnostic cardiac examinations. "At Michigan State University we have developed protocols and sophisticated software tools like HeartFusion to perform accurate, rapid, combined PET myocardial perfusion and CT coronary angiography exams,” said Dr. Berger.

Along with oncology, Discovery technology is proving to be clinically beneficial in cardiology. “We are very encouraged by the results and will continue to measure additional benefits of this technology for the management of heart disease,” added Benali.

Infinia Hawkeye Offers Only CT-Based Attenuation Correction for SPECT

Another innovative GE Healthcare solution for cardiac care is the nuclear medicine system, Infinia, combined with GE’s exclusive Hawkeye®, single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT)/CT technology. Physicians worldwide report that Infinia Hawkeye provide tremendous clinical confidence and benefits to patients.

GE is the only company to have CT-based attenuation correction for cardiology SPECT imaging. Attenuation correction is jointly endorsed by the American Society of Nuclear Cardiology and SNM.

Growing Confidence and Use of Myoview

GE Healthcare’s Myoview™ (Kit for the Preparation of Technetium Tc-99m Tetrofosmin for Injection), well established in diagnostic cardiology, is used to help diagnose heart disease by visualizing blood flow to the heart muscle.

It has been used in millions of procedures per year, demonstrating a growing confidence in the ability of Myoview to provide high quality diagnostic information to physicians. In the past year, Myoview received the FDA approval for the assessment of Left Ventricular Function in patients with Coronary Artery Disease. The company continues to be committed to expanding the clinical versatility of Myoview on a global basis.

About GE Healthcare:

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. GE Healthcare offers a broad range of services to improve productivity in healthcare and enable healthcare providers to better diagnose, treat and manage patients with conditions such as cancer, Alzheimer’s and cardiovascular diseases.

GE Healthcare is a $14 billion unit of General Electric Company (NYSE: GE) that is headquartered in the United Kingdom. Worldwide, GE Healthcare employs more than 42,500 people committed to serving healthcare professionals and their patients in more than 100 countries. For more information about GE Healthcare, visit our website at www.gehealthcare.com.

¹ World Health Organization (WHO) Report, 2003
² In studying patients with known or suspected coronary artery disease, care should be taken to ensure continuous cardiac monitoring and the availability of emergency cardiac treatment. As with all injectable drug products, allergic reactions and anaphylaxis may occur. Pharmacologic induction of cardiovascular stress may be associated with serious adverse events such as myocardial infarction, arrhythmia, hypotension, bronchoconstriction, and cerebrovascular events. Caution should be used when pharmacologic stress is selected as an alternative to exercise; it should be used when indicated and in accordance with the pharmacologic stress agent’s labeling. The most common adverse reactions reported from post-marketing experience included rash, urticaria, abnormal vision, allergic reactions and fever.
^* HeartFusion is a trademark of Emory University

Contacts:
Marshall Poindexter - 262-513-4016; email: Marshall.Poindexter@med.ge.com