What is the new GE Discovery™ LS system?
The GE Discovery™ LS is a breakthrough technology that will help physicians effectively see and treat cancer faster than ever before. Specifically, Discovery LS is the first medical technology to combine today’s most sophisticated computed tomography (CT) scanner and positron emission tomography (PET) system, resulting in a reading of a patient’s anatomic and metabolic information at one time.
Specifically, the GE Discovery LS is the first system that can help answer these critical questions for cancer patients and their doctors in one exam:
Does a patient have cancer? Is a lesion benign or malignant?
Where is it? Is it spreading?
How large is the cancer?
What is optimal therapy?
Is the therapy working?
Is there a reoccurrence of cancer? And if so, where and to what extent?
From a global perspective, how significant is this announcement?
This technology could change the way doctors see and treat cancer. Specifically, this breakthrough technology could potentially be the most significant advancement in cancer detection and diagnosis in the last 20 years.
Why did GE develop this new technology?
GE Medical Systems developed this sophisticated technology in response to the need expressed by the scientific and medical community to improve the accuracy of cancer diagnosis, lesion detection, and treatment planning. Discovery LS will potentially help radiation oncologists determine whether surgery, radiation therapy or chemotherapy is the best treatment method to destroy any cancerous lesions. Once therapy has begun, Discovery LS will help physicians determine more rapidly if the course of treatment is working.
Is combining technology like PET/CT the wave of the future for medical imaging?
Absolutely yes. Fused system imaging has the potential for enhanced clinical confidence. It could help improve patient outcomes, shorten hospital stays and provide overall better patient care. Looking to the future, these imaging solutions will help pave a new direction in patient care as they become the “eyes” to help new drugs and other innovative treatments precisely target disease.
Will this technology be widely accepted?
GE’s goal is that Discovery will eventually be as common in hospitals as CT & MR systems are today.
What differentiates Discovery and PET/CT from other imaging modalities or even from fused computer i
For the first time, doctors will be able to simultaneously combine images with precision. Instead of taking separate CT and PET exams (where the patient’s anatomy could change alignment in the hours, weeks or months between exams) doctors will be able to perform one exam on Discovery, enabling them to more quickly and accurately view the locations of lesions. Discovery LS will also help physicians determine whether lesions are benign or malignant, helping oncologists better plan a patient’s course of treatment.
Where will Discovery be installed in 2001?
The first Discovery LS clinical systems were installed at the University of Zurich in Zurich, Switzerland, Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions in Baltimore, Maryland in the United States, and Rambam Medical Center in Haifa, Israel.
GE expects to have 30 Discovery LS systems installed by the end of the year.
When do you think the first unit will be installed in the Asia region?
The first Discovery LS installation in Asia will be completed by the fourth quarter of this year.
Is this new system a follow-up to previous systems like the GE Hawkeye?
The Discovery LS is an important development built on the successful fused system imaging technology of Hawkeye, which was introduced last year. In terms of patient benefits, however, and the sophistication of the technology, Discovery LS is a quantum leap in both PET and CT performance. Discovery LS can more precisely locate cancers better than any other available technology.
When you look at your total Discovery PET/CT imaging product line, from Hawkeye to Discovery LS, how
GE Medical Systems has been at the forefront of cross-modality and fused imaging technology. We expect to sell more than 500 units in the overall PET/CT product line by 2004.
How long have you been working on the development of this technology?
GE identified this as a breakthrough technology for doctors and their patients in the mid-1990s. GE employed Design for Six Sigma (DFSS) quality methods to further develop the technology and prepare the product for launch today.
How much has the company spent on R&D for Discovery?
GE has invested nearly $50 million into the technology powering Discovery. If you also include the investment GE made individually in the LightSpeed CT and the Advance NXi PET platforms, a total of $130 million has been invested.
GE will continue to invest in revolutionary imaging technologies with the goal of detecting disease earlier and more accurately, and reducing unnecessary patient surgeries, diagnostic procedures, and biopsies.
How did Six Sigma play a role in the development of this product?
We used the Design for Six Sigma (DFSS) process to extensively study the clinical needs of our customers and to create a product that would meet those needs. In addition, both the LightSpeed Plus and Advance NXi platforms were designed using DFSS processes.
More than 20 clinicians worldwide had input into the development of this new technology.
Where will Discovery LS be manufactured?
The Discovery LS will be manufactured in Waukesha, Wisconsin with engineering support from around the world.
Will this exam be reimbursable in the U.S.?
Yes, for select clinical indications with physician referrals. In the months and years to come, the medical community hopes that there will be even broader reimbursement and use of this technology, so that more lives can be saved.
Can medical institutions upgrade current equipment to receive the benefits of the Discovery LS?
GE provides a clear path to upgrade to Discovery LS if a customer has an Advance NXi PET system or a GE LightSpeed Plus CT system currently installed.
Will the Discovery LS ever be offered to patients in a mobile setting?
Yes. The design release for Discovery LS will be mobile-ready by the end of next year.
What does LS in Discovery LS stand for?
It stands for LightSpeed Plus, the latest offering from GE Medical Systems’ premier family of multi-slice computed tomography (CT) scanners. Currently there are more than 1,000 LightSpeed and LightSpeed Plus units installed worldwide.
Additional Background Information
How does multislice computed tomography (CT) work?
Computed tomography (CT) is a medical diagnostic tool that allows doctors to see internal structures within the human body. Specifically, CT examinations aid physicians in diagnosing disease, viewing internal abnormalities and assessing the extent of trauma damage.
During a typical CT procedure, the patient lies on a table. The tabletop then moves the patient through a gantry, which houses an X-ray tube and detector array. The X-ray tube rotates around the patient and the X-ray passes through the patient to the detector array and thousands of measurements are acquired. The computer then processes this information and displays the corresponding images on a computer screen.
The CT exam creates images analogous to a single slice of bread from a whole loaf. Hence the word “slice” is often used to describe a view of patient anatomy.
How does positron emission tomography work?
Unlike anatomical imaging, such as CT or MR, positron emission tomography shows chemical and physiological changes related to metabolism in the body. This is important in disease detection because disease manifests itself first metabolically, sometimes months before it can be detected anatomically.
Before a PET exam, naturally occurring compounds within the body are tagged with minute amounts of radioactivity. The most common “tracer” is a simple sugar molecule called FDG, which is injected into the patient.
PET imaging systems then detect the energy signals these tracers emit as the compound is metabolized within the body. Cancerous cells multiply rapidly and typically consume more sugar than normal cells.
This high degree of metabolic activity will show up as “hot spots” on a PET exam. Those hot spots are cellular areas that the PET system detects more strongly, meaning they have a greater chance of being cancerous.
What does a doctor see in a patient image from a Discovery LS system?
Images from Discovery LS can be compared to radar images shown during a television weather report. A PET scanner shows concentrations of cancer cells in a color spectrum just as weather radar shows varying concentrations of precipitation. The anatomical image generated by the simultaneous CT scan acts as the “map” showing doctors precisely where the cancer is located. The Discovery LS, like the combination of a weather radar and a map, combines information from two systems, CT and PET, to pinpoint activity and location fused into one image.
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