New molecular imaging products deliver quantitative accuracy for improved diagnoses

Baltimore, MD – June 24, 2018 GE Healthcare showcased new molecular imaging and software solutions at the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI) 2018 that will help deliver the vision of precision health, giving personalized, quantitative data to clinicians. The company highlighted a new configuration for Discovery MI, the highest sensitivity digital PET in the industry.[1] The new 800 series includes five nuclear medicine scanners addressing a range of clinical and operational needs. Additionally, Emory Cardiac Toolbox, a nuclear cardiology imaging software, was launched providing anytime, anywhere remote reading and reporting from virtually any computer system. These new solutions will help deliver the digital future in molecular imaging bringing more quantitative, real-time data to clinicians for more confident diagnoses.

PET Imaging

Discovery MI helps clinicians to diagnose and stage disease earlier and better guide treatment strategies while also enabling more compelling research with more novel, faster decaying tracers. Now available in the 21 cps/kBq ultra-high sensitivity configuration, clinicians will be able to scan three times as fast or at one third the dose.[2] Discovery MI delivers up to two times improvement in volumetric resolution2 enabling small lesion detectability and has the highest NEMA sensitivity of any time of flight (TOF) PET system in the industry.

Discovery MI is the industry’s only PET/CT system that brings together the sensitivity of digital detection with innovative reconstruction technology—the combination of TOF, unique respiratory motion management, and Q.Clear, resulting in outstanding resolution to improve the detection of small lesions. Providing up to two times improvement in quantitation accuracy and image quality, Q.Clear delivers fast and efficient reading for confident diagnosis and precise patient treatment response assessment.

GE Healthcare has the longest history in the industry in digital PET and over 125 installations, including PET/MR. Discovery MI is the industry’s only upgradable and scalable digital PET platform, now available in a three (7.5 cps/kBq sensitivity), four (13.5 cps/kBq sensitivity), and five (21 cps/kBq sensitivity) ring configurations. Clinicians can upgrade in-house to deliver a higher sensitivity; with this flexibility, this system is a long-term, fully scalable investment that will allow hospitals to upgrade as patient and department needs change over the years.

Nuclear Medicine

The new 800 series includes NM 830, NM/CT 850[3], NM/CT 860, NM/CT 860 DR, NM/CT 870 CZT, and a new nuclear medicine workstation, Xeleris 4 DR—all designed to help clinicians achieve exceptional outcomes. In this twentieth year of SPECT/CT, this new family of nuclear medicine systems leverages the company’s history of nuclear medicine innovation in a wide range of clinical environments to provide clinical, patient, and operational outcomes. GE Healthcare was the first company to deliver a commercial SPECT/CT at SNM 1999 with Millennium VG Hawkeye.

  • NM 830 delivers a scalable SPECT platform, which can be upgraded to a hybrid system, featuring SwiftScan Planar and SwiftScan SPECT technologies, for increased sensitivity that can enable a reduction of dose or scan times by up to 25 percent.[4]  It improves small lesion detectability with no additional time or dose, an important factor for visualizing cancers and metastases at their early and most actionable stages.5
  • NM/CT 850 is specifically designed for low dose attenuation correction and localization; it also has an easy-to-use, collaborative workflow delivered by SmartConsole. SwiftScan Planar and SwiftScan SPECT also enable up to 25 percent reduction in acquisition time or injected dose4, which can deliver increased procedure volume for hospital systems. Q.Volumetrix MI provides clinicians with absolute quantitation data of tracer uptake volume, to determine how the lesion absorbs the tracer, enabling a more confident diagnosis and treatment monitoring.
  • NM/CT 860 builds on all the features of NM/CT 850 and can also be used as a standalone diagnostic CT when needed to manage volume. SmartConsole’s workflow and time savings enabled by SwiftScan SPECT and SwiftScan Planar4 have the potential to reduce variation in clinical and operational workflow while providing a consistent patient experience. Both NM/CT 850 and NM/CT 860 deliver improved small lesion detectability[5] with no additional time or dose—an important factor for visualizing cancers and metastases at their early and most actionable stages.
  • NM/CT 870 DR is digital ready, meaning it can be later upgraded to cadmium zinc telluride (CZT) digital detectors. This system features SmartConsole, SwiftScan Planar, SwiftScan SPECT, and Q.Volumetrix MI with added benefits such as single breath hold scans in half a second for a more comfortable exam for patients with the image quality clinicians need. New advanced CT features like Smart MAR enable exceptional CT image quality for the most difficult patients.
  • NM/CT 870 CZT builds on GE Healthcare’s expertise in CZT digital detectors. With a new CZT design, the system delivers 58 percent increased sensitivity compared to the first-generation, general purpose, digital SPECT/CT. This system can conduct a whole-body planar scan in under four minutes6 with excellent spatial and ultra-high energy resolutions. Clinicians can achieve improved quantitative accuracy7 resulting in expanded applications, greater utilization, and procedural growth. NM/CT 870 CZT also features SmartConsole workflow enhancements and Q.Volumetrix MI for improved quantitation.

“We’re thrilled to bring these new offerings to doctors and researchers around the world,” said Nathan Hermony, general manager and vice president of molecular imaging, GE Healthcare. “With twenty years of experience in SPECT/CT and the longest history in digital PET in the industry, we are dedicated to delivering the best tools to our customers to push the boundaries of what is possible with molecular imaging. We’re committed to delivering tools to provide clinicians with the quantitative data they need in order to make more confident and accurate diagnoses for their patients.”

Emory Cardiac Toolbox with Syntermed Live (ECTb)

GE Healthcare announced the launch of the Emory Cardiac Toolbox with Syntermed Live™ (ECTb™), now available from GE Healthcare Life Sciences. The Emory Cardiac Toolbox is a nuclear cardiology image interpreting and reporting imaging software that provides anytime, anywhere remote reading and reporting from virtually any computer system. This solution is designed to help standardize cardiac image interpretation and improve reporting, help increase workflow efficiency, help enable greater diagnostic confidence and drive speed in clinical decisions, ultimately leading to potentially improved patient outcomes and greater clinical capacity. 

“The diagnostician could be anywhere in the world and bring up the patient study just as though they were sitting in their office 10 feet away from the nuclear imaging device,” said Dr. Ernest V. Garcia, professor of cardiac imaging and director of nuclear cardiology R&D laboratory at Emory University, and also one of the founders of Syntermed, Inc., and the developer of the ECTb. “The lack of remote access to critical patient information can have a potentially detrimental impact on the efficiency, productivity, and quality that physicians provide to patients. Emory toolbox is a cost-effective solution that can help address these challenges – especially for the small-to-medium size clinics that may have fewer financial resources.” This has implications for patients’ diagnoses and treatments. “Regardless of where patients have their nuclear studies done, if they are processed and interpreted using ECTb, the accuracy of the interpretation can be raised,” said  Garcia.

What differentiates Emory toolbox from traditional software is that it combines existing software capabilities into a solution that not only gives clinicians the flexibility to review images remotely, but also access to the latest clinical applications in “real-time”.  It’s simple to integrate and access, helping to quickly and easily maximize productivity, save time and help reduce errors – without the need for upgrading or purchasing new equipment. As soon as new features become available, the software can be immediately updated remotely – similar to any basic software on a PC. Traditionally, nuclear imaging departments use the version of the software that they get when they purchase the SPECT camera. In order to get a newer version of the software, they typically have to upgrade the system, which comes at a high cost. With Emory cardiac toolbox, clinicians can pay an annual license fee, which gives them access to the latest software and clinical applications.

Emory Cardiac Toolbox also features optional imaging decision support with Syntermed IDS™ tool.  It automatically generates a comprehensive interpretation using more than 230 heuristic rules to evaluate perfusion, reversibility, function, and patient demographics, providing physicians with additional confidence to their clinical judgement, potentially increasing the speed of clinical decisions. This may be particularly important for smaller imaging sites, where there might be only one nuclear cardiologist or one specialty physician. While this feature is not intended to replace physician judgment, it represents an additional tool for reading clinical images, and when applied effectively it can assist in more timely, informed decisions.

Emory Cardiac toolbox with Syntermed Live is currently available in the US.

Indications for Use

The Emory Cardiac Toolbox should be used for the quantification of myocardial perfusion for the display of wall motion and quantification of left-ventricular function parameters from SPECT and PET myocardial perfusion studies for the 3D alignment of coronary artery models from CT coronary angiography onto the left ventricular 3D epicardial surface, for the assessment of cardiac mechanical dyssynchrony using phase analysis, for generation of the short axis, vertical, and horizontal long axis tomograms from the SPECT raw data using either filtered backprojection (FBP) or iterative reconstruction (MLEM/OSEM) for the quantification of myocardial blood flow and coronary flow reserve, and for the decision support in interpretation (LVX) and automatic structured reporting of the study. The product is intended for use by trained nuclear technicians and nuclear medicine or nuclear cardiology physicians. The clinician remains ultimately responsible for the final interpretation and diagnosis based on standard practices and visual interpretation of all SPECT and PET data.

About GE Healthcare

GE Healthcare is the $19 billion healthcare business of GE (NYSE: GE). As a leading provider of medical imaging, monitoring, biomanufacturing, and cell and gene therapy technologies, GE Healthcare enables precision health in diagnostics, therapeutics and monitoring through intelligent devices, data analytics, applications and services. With over 100 years of experience in the healthcare industry and more than 50,000 employees globally, the company helps improve outcomes more efficiently for patients, healthcare providers, researchers and life sciences companies around the world. Follow us on FacebookLinkedInTwitter and The Pulse for latest news, or visit our website www.gehealthcare.com for more information.

MEDIA CONTACTS

Amanda Gintoft

amanda.gintoft@ge.com

+1 414-412-7062

Claudia Scarpelli

Claudia.scarpelli@ge.com

+49 1735811032


[1] Comparing Discovery MI 5-Ring and Discovery to other PET/CT scanners reported in ITN online comparison charts (June 2018)

[2] Compared to the Discovery 710

[3] NM/CT 850 is not yet CE marked

[4] Compared to using the LEHR collimator with SPECT Step & Shoot scan mode (for SPECT)/without Planar Clarity 2D (for Planar). As demonstrated in phantom testing using a bone scan protocol, Evolution processing (for SPECT), and a model observer. Because model observer results may not always match those from a human reader, the actual time/dose reduction depends on the clinical task, patient size, anatomical location and clinical practice. A radiologist should determine the appropriate scan time/dose for the particular clinical task.

[5] Compared to LEHR collimator, with SPECT Step & Shoot scan mode (for SPECT)/without Planar Clarity 2D (for Planar). As demonstrated in phantom testing using a model observer

6 Together with Clarity 2D. Compared to typical 15 minute scan on Discovery NM/CT 670 Pro/ES/DR without Clarity 2D. Demonstrated in phantom testing using bone scan protocol, and the NEMA IEC Body Phantom. The actual time/dose reduction depends on the clinical task, patient size, anatomical location and clinical practice.

7 In clinical practice, the use of NM/CT 870 CZT may improve quantification of lesions larger than 5.5mL, depending on the clinical task, patient size, anatomical location and clinical practice. A consultation with a radiologist and a physicist should be made to determine the appropriate dose or scan time to obtain the claimed quantification accuracy for the particular clinical task.

http://www.genewsroom.com/press-releases/new-molecular-imaging-products-deliver-quantitative-accuracy-improved-diagnoses