GE Healthcare Re-imagines Radiology at RSNA Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting; Company Showcases Innovative Technologies That Enable “Early Health”

CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--GE Healthcare, a unit of General Electric Company (NYSE:GE), today kicked off its participation in the 2008 Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting in Chicago by showcasing technologies that help healthcare providers transform a healthcare delivery model focused on treating late disease to one that is focused on “Early Health,” or prevention and pre-symptomatic disease detection.

“Healthcare providers are looking for ways to find disease sooner to help people live longer, fuller lives. GE Healthcare is the only healthcare organization with the strength to bring together the best in science, technology, and business to help providers redefine the frontiers of discovery, diagnosis, treatment and information management and transform healthcare,” said John Dineen, president and CEO of GE Healthcare.

In a news conference during RSNA 2008, the company will demonstrate “Radiology Re-imagined” by highlighting three new Diagnostic Imaging product lines inspired by customer needs and developed in response to changing market dynamics.

Monday, December 1, 2008

1:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.

RSNA News Conference Room

McCormick Place Lakeside Center, Level 2, Room E252

“Customers around the world have clearly told us that they want medical technologies designed to help them achieve the specific clinical and operational objectives of their department or institution,” said Mark Vachon, president and CEO of GE Healthcare’s Global Diagnostic Imaging business. “Their feedback inspired us to re-imagine radiology, from technology development to product offerings, in a way that is new and unique in the radiology field. Through this effort, we have developed the Optima, Discovery and Brivo product lines around specific customer needs.”

Optima, Brivo, and Discovery products encompass a broad range of GE’s diagnostic imaging products that enable healthcare providers to research, diagnose, treat, monitor, and share critical information for a variety of diseases and medical conditions.

Optima products deliver the functionality clinicians need to accommodate high patient volumes, along with designs that improve versatility, throughput and workflow. Brivo products offer essential functionality in a straightforward and practical package, letting clinicians serve their community with operational needs and quality results. Discovery products offer breakthrough applications to those who push the boundaries of what imaging can achieve.

Many new products are on display in the GE Healthcare booth at RSNA 2008, including:

• The Optima XR640, developed to deliver digital productivity with flexibility by providing the same configuration as a digital fixed detector RAD room with the flexibility of a single, shared digital detector, and features a moveable detector that mimics traditional patient exam workflow.
• The Discovery MR450, GE’s new 1.5T MR scanner, offering the most advanced capabilities available on any 1.5T system, including real-time cardiac imaging, single-acquisition, multi-contrast abdominal images with outstanding fat/water separation and ultra high-resolution musculoskeletal exams with high patient throughput.
• The Discovery PET/CT 600, delivering a powerful combination of the highest sensitivity in the industry, next generation of MotionFree technology, high definition imaging, and fast reconstruction.
• The Discovery XR650, featuring GE’s fixed flat panel digital detector, delivering one of the industry's highest detective quantum efficiency (DQE) of 77 percent, with a new portable detector, offering further flexibility in the comprehensive radiographic room compared to previous generations.
• The LightSpeed VCT XTe, a new generation of scanners built from GE Healthcare’s proven LightSpeed VCT platform and enhanced with HD Technologies.
• The Senographe Essential Interventional, GE’s latest innovation for breast biopsy, designed to improve clinical confidence, accuracy and comfort with your biopsy system.
• The LOGIQ E9, a new ultrasound system for radiology and vascular applications that merges real-time ultrasound images with images from other imaging modalities like CT and MR.
• The OEC® 9900 Elite C-arm, GE’s state-of-the-art fluoroscopy device that allows for superb images during surgery with radiation dose control dependability and versatility.
• The Advanced Workstation (AW) Server, capable of expanding the boundaries of the clinical office and the potential of 3D image-based diagnosis.

About GE Healthcare

GE Healthcare provides transformational medical technologies and services that are shaping a new age of patient care. Our expertise in medical imaging and information technologies, medical diagnostics, patient monitoring systems, performance improvement, drug discovery, and biopharmaceutical manufacturing technologies is helping clinicians around the world re-imagine new ways to predict, diagnose, inform, treat, and monitor disease, so patients can live their lives to the fullest.

GE Healthcare's broad range of products and services enable healthcare providers to better diagnose and treat cancer, heart disease, neurological diseases, and other conditions earlier. Our vision for the future is to enable a new "early health" model of care focused on earlier diagnosis, pre-symptomatic disease detection, and disease prevention. Headquartered in the United Kingdom, GE Healthcare is a $17- billion unit of General Electric Company (NYSE:GE). Worldwide, GE Healthcare employs more than 46,000 people committed to serving healthcare professionals and their patients in more than 100 countries. For more information about GE Healthcare, visit our Web site at www.gehealthcare.com.