FDA approves GE's heart-imaging technology

Waukesha, Wis. - GE Healthcare, the $15 billion unit of General Electric Co., has received U.S. Food and Drug Administration clearance for its heart-imaging feature that reduces a patient's radiation exposure by up to 70 percent per scan.

The technology is based on computed tomography scanning, a method of medical imaging that layers multiple X-ray images together to create a three-dimensional image of a patient's internals.

In standard cardiac CT exams, the X-ray is on for the duration of a scan, even during periods when a patient's heart is at an undesirable phase. But the new feature, called SnapShot Cine, is automated to respond to a patient's heart rate, turning the X-ray on and off at desired times during a patient's heart rate cycle, reducing the time a patient is exposed to X-ray radiation.

The feature enables studies of the heart with a table that moves from one location to the next to cover the entire volume of the patient's heart. During the scanning process, a patient's heart rate is tracked real-time so scans are driven by each individual patient.

"We are obtaining beautiful images on the patients we are scanning with SnapShot Cine," said Dr. Jason Cole of Cardiology Associates in Mobile, Alabama, one of the first cardiologists to implement multi-slice cardiac CT imaging as a tool for coronary artery disease detection. "The reduction in radiation dose is very important in extending the types of patients for whom coronary CT angiography is appropriate," Cole added.

Laura King, global vice president of interventional cardiology at GE Healthcare, said achieving the lowest possible dose is an important advancement for cardiologists, particularly, "as cardiac patients often undergo multiple follow up procedures during the course of disease management."

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