GE Healthcare Announces FDA Clearance of MR Systems Optima MR360 and Brivo MR355 to Address Demand for Productivity, Versatility and Value
Right balance of productivity and precision for routine scanning needs without compromising image quality
About 180 sites worldwide have ordered the systems for routine and specialized scanning needs
Optima MR360 and Brivo MR355 can potentially reduce annual energy costs by up to 34% per year compared to previous generation systems
Both systems can be sited in 20% smaller space compared to other full body 1.5T scanners
WAUKESHA, WI MARCH 3, 2011—GE Healthcare, a unit of General Electric Company (NYSE:GE) today announced FDA clearance of Optima™ MR360 1.5 tesla and Brivo™ MR355 1.5 tesla magnetic resonance systems addressing the demand for productivity, versatility and value. Approximately 180 systems have been ordered by hospitals and imaging centers worldwide.
The Optima MR360 is an application-rich 1.5 Tesla MR system that can help improve imaging productivity and help offset ownership costs. It is engineered around a high-definition platform that includes remarkable flexibility and efficiency to deliver benefits on many levels: technologists benefit from ease of use; radiologists benefit from consistent high quality; administrators benefit from satisfied patients, and efficient throughput.
The Optima MR360 features an “Express Exam” concept to simplify operation, and help increase productivity and diagnostic confidence. The Express Exam combines user interface simplification features, embedded Express Coil technology, and a wide range of advanced clinical applications. The Express Coil provides the benefits of a single coil built into a fixed table to help reduce handling and provide consistent image quality by ensuring coil elements are as close to patient anatomy as possible.
The Optima MR360 is also a high performance system. It uses an uncompromised magnet with a 48-cm field of view. It also features the OpTix optical RF system, which increases signal clarity and signal intensity to produce clean, crisp images.
The system delivers outstanding value with the benefits of a GE ecomagination product. Its footprint is 20 percent smaller than other fully body 1.5T systems, and it can consume up to 34 percent less power than previous generation systems, potentially saving up to 60,000 kWh per year.
“The Optima MR360 has proven to be invaluable in our radiology department, delivering quality, consistency, and stability across a broad range of clinical applications compared to previous systems in it class,” said Dr. Sedat Alibek of Röntgeninstitute und Brustdiagnostik-Zentrum, Nuremburg, Germany. “With its optical Radio Frequency technology, energy conservation features, and software innovations such as IDEAL, all contribute to its being a high-performing, versatile system.”
The Brivo MR355, also recently cleared by the FDA, makes the diagnostic benefits of high-performance MR technology easy and accessible. It combines simplification technology with low total cost of ownership
Using an uncompromised magnet, the Brivo MR355 features a 48 cm field-of-view. It also features the OpTix technology, and the embedded Express coil.
To make scan prescription simpler, faster, and more consistent than previous generations, Brivo MR355 also features the Ready Interface, a control center that requires fewer steps to optimize scan parameters, delivering greater consistency from technologist to technologist – and patient to patient. It incorporates the Ready Bar, which reduces 30 inputs to a single control, and Ready Brain, an acquisition technique that automatically determines slice alignment for brain scans. This system is part of the GE healthymagination initiative to make advanced diagnostic technology accessible and cost-effective.
“With more than 25 years’ experience in MR innovation and refinement, the Optima MR360 and Brivo MR355 are engineered around the high-definition platform our customers know and trust,” said Jim Davis, vice president and general manager of GE Healthcare’s Magnetic Resonance business. “These systems include remarkable flexibility and efficiency to deliver benefits for technologists, offering ease of use and helping increase confidence, and for radiologists who receive expanded capabilities; and for administrators seeking satisfied patients, efficient throughput and opportunities for growth.”
About GE Healthcare:
GE Healthcare provides transformational medical technologies and services that are shaping a new age of patient care. Our broad expertise in medical imaging and information technologies, medical diagnostics, patient monitoring systems, drug discovery, biopharmaceutical manufacturing technologies, performance improvement and performance solutions services help our customers to deliver better care to more people around the world at a lower cost. In addition, we partner with healthcare leaders, striving to leverage the global policy change necessary to implement a successful shift to sustainable healthcare systems.
Our “healthymagination” vision for the future invites the world to join us on our journey as we continuously develop innovations focused on reducing costs, increasing access and improving quality and efficiency around the world. Headquartered in the United Kingdom, GE Healthcare is a $16 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 website at www.gehealthcare.com.
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