WAUKESHA, WISC. -- General Electric Company (NYSE: GE) GE Healthcare has introduced new software and instrumentation for its InstaTrak® 3500 Plus & ENTrak Plus electromagnetic surgical navigation systems that add features & may enhance patient safety in minimally invasive cranial, spine, and ENT (Ear, Nose and Throat) surgical procedures.

Analogous to a global positioning system used in a car to track location, the surgeon now can view a three-dimensional map of the patient to track the exact position of instruments and perform delicate procedures more safely with no line-of-sight restrictions.

The GE InstaTrak 3500 Plus System software provides several capabilities desired by many surgeons for cranial procedures. It also enhances the system's widely recognized Advanced ENT application with computed tomography (CT)/magnetic resonance imaging (MR) fusion for skull-base and sinus surgeries. It also adds AccuMatch Markerless Registration to the InstaTrak 3500 Plus and ENTrak Plus, eliminating the need to shave the patient’s head before surgery.

Where other systems use optical technology to locate surgical instruments in three-dimensional space, the GE InstaTrak 3500 Plus and ENTrak Plus use electromagnetic (EM) technology to locate surgical instruments. The big difference is that the EM field can pass through objects, while optical-based systems require a clear optical path to locate the surgical instruments.

"This builds on our reputation as a leader in ENT surgical navigation," said Laura King, Vice President and General Manager, Interventional, Cardiology & Surgery for GE Healthcare. “ We brought together powerful navigation tools for neurosurgery and ENT surgery in a package that is extremely easy to use. These technologies can help clinicians plan and carry out cranial and spinal surgeries with the utmost confidence."

King said the new features would increase patient comfort by ending the need for large incisions and reducing the number of scans. “These features may shorten recovery time and can reduce the number of invasive procedures. The increased confidence will help reduce anxiety for both the surgeon and the patient,” she said.

Software capabilities added specifically for neurosurgery include:

• Optional CT and MR Fusion for cranial, skull-base and Advanced ENT procedures, which lets surgeons use MR to visualize tumors and CT to identify bony landmarks, all in a single, adjustable image. "Image fusion is a tremendous advantage in endoscopic tumor surgery and in all endoscopic transnasal approaches to the pituitary gland," said Wolfgang Koele, MD, University Medical School at Graz, Austria.



• Adjustable Extended Trajectory (AET) with Look-Ahead allows measurements from an entry point to a target point rather than manual measurement and provides a “probe’s eye-view” during navigation



• Cortical Mapping tags speech, sensory or motor areas of the brain before tumor resection or to help clinicians tag epilepsy areas before removal

Software capabilities enhanced specifically for spinal surgery include:

• Freeze Trajectory, which places and stores multiple trajectories during pedicle screw placement on the FluoroTrak application

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.

Contact:
Marshall Poindexter
(262) 513-4016
marshall.poindexter@med.ge.com