PHILADELPHIA - A new version of GE Healthcare's flagship Infinia nuclear medicine system was among the vendor's highlights at the annual meeting of the Society of Nuclear Medicine in Philadelphia.
The next generation of Infinia includes 5-mm CT axial resolution (when combined with GE's Hawkeye system) for enhanced SPECT/CT lesion detection, fan-beam collimation for improved brain SPECT scanning efficiency and resolution, and a camera-based PET (CBPET) option for extended clinical utility, the Waukesha, WI-based vendor said.
GE has incorporated new detector motions to accommodate more patient positions and enhance productivity, and added a camera-control graphical user interface. More than 250 Infinia systems will be installed by the end of 2004, GE said.
The SNM conference was the first to feature the new combined GE Healthcare, encompassing the Amersham operations that GE acquired in April. Joint teams from GE Healthcare Technologies (the former GE Medical Systems) and GE Healthcare Bio-Sciences (formerly Amersham) are now working together to execute the firm's vision of personalized medicine, said Jeffery Kao, general manager, global PET/NM, functional and CT imaging.
In other product introductions, GE debuted a new technology for its PETtrace cyclotron designed to produce a high-capacity 18F-F2 PET tracer. The new 18-F2 target is a starting point in production, by the electrophilic route, of F-DOPA, GE said.
Research evaluating F-DOPA for the diagnosis of Parkinson's disease is underway at several institutions, GE said. The production capability was the result of a collaborative effort with Imanet, a joint venture launched by Amersham with a number of PET research centers, with continued support from GE.
By AuntMinnie.com staff writersJune 22, 2004
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