GE Healthcare

With the use of contrast agents and radiotracers on the rise, GE Healthcare has seen increases in demand across their pharmaceutical diagnostics business. At RSNA 2021, Marco Campione, General Manager, Pharmaceutical Diagnostics Americas, GE Healthcare, shared how recent investments are helping to meet this increased demand.

Find more RSNA21 content here

ITN Editor Dave Fornell collected numerous examples of how PACS and enterprise imaging vendors are improving the speed and workflow of their systems during booth demonstrations at the 2021 Healthcare Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS). The 11 minute video condenses down the highlights of workflow efficiencies seen during two days o vendor booth tours.

There was a clear trend of many vendors moving to new platforms that leverage more modern cloud-platform interfaces. This enables faster study loading speeds over web connections. These platforms are also using deeper integration of third-party applications and artificial intelligence (AI) software that do not require separate logins or workflows. Read more about these key trends observed at HIMSS 2021.

Vendors also showed various ways they have speed up radiology workflows. These included easier to customize hanging protocols, automated fetching of prior exams, synchronizing views and scrolling between a current a prior exams, use of timeline views of patient priors and procedures to make it easier to find relevant images and reports, and integration of all types of images into one unified viewer. 

Specific examples in this video include: 
   • Visage Imaging: Example of high speed cloud PACS access to 3D mammograms and and priors. This first video clip shows a demonstration of opening large datasets in a matter of a couple seconds over a network connection from a tethered cellphone.
   • Visage Imaging: Ability to access multiple modalities on one PACS viewer
   • GE Healthcare: Examples of fast access to priors and location on screen 
   • GE Healthcare: Example of deep integration of third-party AI software
   • Siemens: Overview of its Lung AI Pathway Companion workflow  
   • Change Healthcare: Enabling fast ability to free rotate around lung anatomy rather than going slice by slice manually 
   • Change Healthcare: Color-coded bar shows loading progress of an image or data set
   • Infinitt: Hanging protocol automation to find same view on prior and link for synchronized scrolling   
   • Infinitt: Use of timeline to get quick view of prior reports and images without needing to open whole exam 
   • Siemens: Example of deeper integration with third-party apps, in this case Epsilon strain echo analysis  
   • Fujifilm: Integrated advanced visualization in the radiology workflow for liver segmentation used for surgical or embolization planning 
   • Fujifilm: Example of life-like cinematic rendering of a CT scan offers new ways to view anatomy and explain it to a patient 
   • Visage Imaging: Example of enterprise platform able to bring in full original format advanced visualization reconstructed images on a single platform viewer

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This is an overview of trends and technologies in radiology artificial intelligence (AI) applications in 2021. Views were shared by 11 radiologists using AI and industry leaders, which include:

• Randy Hicks, M.D., MBA, radiologist and CEO of Reginal Medical Imaging (RMI), and an iCAD Profound AI user.

• Prof. Dr. Thomas Frauenfelder, University of Zurich, Institute for Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, and Riverain AI user. 

• Amy Patel, M.D., medical director of Liberty Hospital Women’s Imaging, assistant professor of radiology at UMKC, and user of Kios AI for breast ultrasound. 

• Sham Sokka, Ph.D., vice president and head of innovation, precision diagnosis, Philips Healthcare.

• Ivo Dreisser, Siemens Healthineers, global marketing manager for the AI Rad Companion.

• Bill Lacey, vice president of medical informatics, Fujifilm Medical Systems USA.

• Karley Yoder, vice president and general manager, artificial intelligence, GE Healthcare.

• Georges Espada, head of Agfa Healthcare digital and computed radiography business unit.

• Pooja Rao, head of research and development and co-founder of Qure.ai.

• Jill Hamman, world-wide marketing manager at Carestream Health.

• Sebastian Nickel, Siemens Healthineers, global product manager for the AI Pathway Companion. 

There has been a change in attitudes about AI on the expo floor at the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) over the last two years. AI conversations were originally 101 level and discussed how AI technology could be trained to sort photos of dogs and cats. However, in 2020, with numerous FDA approvals for various AI applications, the conversations at RSNA, and industry wide, have shifted to that of accepting the validity of AI. Radiologists now want to discuss how a specific AI algorithm is going to help them save time, make more accurate diagnoses and make them more efficient.

With a higher level of maturity in AI and the technology seeing wider adoption, radiologists using it say AI gives them additional confidence in their diagnoses, and can even help readers who may not be deep experts in the exam type they are being asked to read. 

With a myriad of new AI apps gaining regulatory approval from scores of imaging vendors, the biggest challenge for getting this technology into hospitals is an easy to integrate format. This has led to several vendors creating AI app stores. These allow AI apps to integrate easily into radiology workflows because the apps are already integrated as third-party software into a larger radiology vendors' IT platform.  

There are now hundreds of AI applications that do a wide variety of analysis, from data analytics, image reconstruction, disease and anatomy identification, automating measurements and advanced visualization. The AI applications can be divided into 2 basic types — AI to improve workflow, and AI for clinical decision support, such as diagnostic aids.

On the workflow side, several vendors are leveraging AI to pull together all of a patients' information, prior exams and reports in one location and to digest the information so it is easier for the radiologist to consume. Often the AI pulls only data and priors that relate to a specific question being asked, based on the imaging protocol used for the exam. One example of this is the Siemens Healthineers AI Clinical Pathway and Siemens AI integrations with PACS to automate measurements and advanced visualization.

AI is also helping simplify complex tasks and help reduce the reading time on involved exams. One example of this is in 3-D breast tomosythesis with hundreds of images, which is rapidly replacing 2-D mammography, which only produces 4 images. Another example is automated image reconstruction algorithms to significantly reduce manual work. AI also is now being integrated directly into several vendors' imaging systems to speed workflow and improve image quality.

Vendors say AI is here to stay. They explain the future of AI will be automation to help improve image quality, simplify manual processes, improved diagnostic quality, new ways to analyze data, and workflow aids that operate in the background as part of a growing number of software solutions. 

Several vendors at RSNA 2020 noted that AI's biggest impact in the coming years will be its ability to augment and speed the workflow for the small number of radiologists compared to the quickly growing elder patient populations worldwide. There also are applications in rural and developing countries were there are very low numbers of physicians or specialists.

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Find more artificial intelligence news and video

Here are two quick clinical examples of point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) lung imaging and cardiac imaging using a GE Vscan Air device. The examples show an abnormal lung image with B-lines. The second clip shows a healthy heart in a parasternal color Doppler image.

The GE Healthcare Vscan Air is a cutting-edge, wireless pocket-sized ultrasound that provides crystal clear image quality, whole-body scanning capabilities, and intuitive software. The pocket-sized ultrasound system was originally introduced in 2010, and as of early 2021, there are over 30,000 Vscan systems in use. The new Vscan Air features a wireless ultrasound probe.

Read more in the article GE Healthcare Unveils Vscan Air Wireless Handheld Ultrasound

Find more POCUS news and video

Darryl B. Sneag, M.D., a radiologist and director of peripheral nerve MRI at the Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) in New York City, explains how artificial intelligence (AI) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) reconstruction algorithms have cut imaging times by 50 percent. This has enabled his facility to maintain the same number of patients as it did prior to the pandemic, while still having time to sterilize the scanners after each patient. 

Many radiology departments are now experiencing a backlog of cases due to COVID-19 shutdowns in 2020 and the limits on the number of patients that can be in the hospital for imaging exams due to pandemic containment precautions. Sneag said AI is now playing a role in helping streamline workflow.

HSS has 19 GE Healthcare MRI scanners and uses the Air Recon DL AI image reconstruction algorithm. This allows for shorter scan times, so the same number of patients as pre-pandemic can be imaged per day, even with deeper cleaning of the MRI bore. Sneag explains the algorithm has greatly helped with patient throughput, but the trade off is sometimes getting a ringing artifact on images.

HSS also uses GE's Air Coil flexible pad MRI coils. These can wrap around the patient to improve comfort and get the coils closer to the anatomy being imaged.

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Artificial Intelligence (AI) is becoming more common place in radiology practices, and emerging technologies are providing radiologists with sophisticated detection software to aid their reading and provide support for a busy workflow. With the progression of AI technology, vendors must look not only at what AI can do for the radiologist, but how the radiologist and the technician interact with that technology –  the goal should be increasing accuracy while also positively improving workflow. GE Healthcare is working to improve radiology AI workflow in its Centricity Universal Viewer.

Three key opinion leaders offers their views on what is needed to make AI more valauble and accessible to radiologists. These include:

   • Amy Patel, M.D., breast radiologist, medical director, Liberty Hospital Women's Imaging, assistant professor of radiology, University of Missouri-Kansas City.

   • Prof. Dr. Thomas Frauenfelder, M.D., vice chairman and professor of thoracic radiology, Institute for Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, University of Zurich.

   • Randy Hicks, M.D., chief executive officer, Regional Medical Imaging.

Learn more about the Centricity Universal Viewer in the VIDEO: How GE Healthcare’s Zero Footprint Remote Image Viewer Supports Clinical Care

GE Healthcare is highlighting artificial intelligence (AI) automation features on its Voluson Swift ultrasound platform at the 2020 Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) virtual meeting. Features of this system include semi-automated contouring, auto identification of fetal anatomy and positioning on imaging, 

The new SonoLyst AI software can auto recognize 20 standard fetal views in the second trimester protocol. The goal is to speed exam times and make the exams more accurate, even for less experienced sonographers. The AI can tell users what any image is when they freeze the frame. This can be used to help cue up measurements and appropriate annotations. The AI also can tell th user if all the required anatomical structures are in an image needed for the exam protocols.
 

Find more RSNA news and video

Enterprise viewers are designed to provide fast and easy access to a patient’s imaging history, and today’s modern healthcare systems require a clinical viewer capable of meeting the diverse needs of a large group of users. GE Healthcare’s Zero Footprint Viewer can quickly and easily display digital images, video clips and cine loops from any department and on many different devices.

It provides access to images and reports from anywhere, whether it’s on the hospital floor, in surgery, in clinic or at home, to allow clinicians to access and develop clinical insights that deliver patient results and drive operational efficiencies.

Learn more at https://www.gehealthcare.com/products/healthcare-it/enterprise-imaging/centricity-universal-viewer-zero-footprint

This is a tutorial video on how to perform an artificial intelligence (AI) automated cardiac ejection fraction measurement using the GE Healthcare Vscan Extend point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) system and the LVivo EF app, developed and licensed by DiA Imaging Analysis. This FDA-cleared app enables an automated edge detection of left ventricular endocardium and calculates end-diastolic, end-systolic volumes and ejection fraction, using apical 4-chamber view.

the LVivo EF app was showcased by GE Healthcare in its virtual booth at the American Society of Echocardiography (ASE) 2020 virtual meeting. POCUS imaging has emerged as a primary imaging modality for bedside assessment of COVID-19 patients in 2020.

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At RSNA19, GE Healthcare introduced its Edison Open AI Orchestrator. The software has been designed to operate smart algorithms that might save radiologists time. ITN Contributing Editor Greg Freiherr discusses its benefits with Karley Yoder, vice president and general manager of artificial intelligence for GE.

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GE Healthcare's iCenter is a cloud-based management software that provides 24/7 visibility to customers' visual and operational data. In this Conversations video, Contributing Editor Greg Freiherr discusses iCenter with GE and Microsoft Executives at RSNA 2019.

This is a quick walk around of the GE Healthcare Cardiographe dedicated cardiac CT system on display at the Society Of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography (SCCT) 2019 meeting. It was designed specifically for cardiac imaging and so has a very compact footprint so it can be used in an office setting or small room. It offers a fast gantry rotation speed to freeze cardiac motion and has large enough anatomical coverage to view the scan the entire heart in one rotation.

One of these systems was recently installed at St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver, Canada, where they have an extensive structural heart program. Read more about this intall.

Find more information on this system in these related articles:

New Cardiovascular CT Technology Entering the Market

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At RSNA 2018, GE Healthcare formally presented Edison as the company's new applications platform, designed to speed the delivery of precision care. 

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GE Healthcare goes beyond core equipment maintenance to help clients solve some of their most important asset and clinical performance challenges through digital solutions.

GE launched a new brand that covers artificial intelligence (AI) at the Radiological Socoety of North American (RSNA) 2018 meeting. The company showed several works-in-progress, including a critical care suite of algorithms and experimental applications for brain MR. Each is being built on GE's Edison Platform.

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GE Healthcare Centricity Clinical Archive (CCA) Analytics, shown at RSNA 2018, works directly with the vendor neutral archive (VNA), allowing users to evaluate clinical, financial and operational processes across the healthcare system. The analytics solution shows how all of the different components of the archive and all of the imaging sources — departments, facilities and modalities — are working across the enterprise.

As a VNA, GE Healthcare Centricity Clinical Archive weaves together data from many different sources and systems. The cloud-based system, shown at RSNA 2018, offers analytics that can help physicians and administrators make decisions about the many types of data contained in this VNA, just as it can help make the VNA more efficient. 

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This is an example of a 3-D printed pelvis that had multiple hip fractures and a second printed pelvis is from a post surgical repair CT scan, showing the pins and plates in pink. This was on display at the GE Healthcare booth at the Healthcare Information Management and Systems Society (HIMSS) 2019 conference. The files for printing were created from the CT datasets using the AW Advanced Visualization software.

Look through a photo gallery of other new technologies at HIMSS19. 

Find news and videos from HIMSS 2019.

Supplemental screening with ABUS helps personalize breast care for women with dense breasts and offers advanced clinical confidence for radiologists. ABUS can play an important role in early diagnosis of small, node negative, invasive cancers. Hear from Georgia Giakoumis Spear, M.D., from NorthShore University HealthSystem in the Chicagoland Area of Illinois as she speaks with Lucas Delaney, general manager for ABUS at GE Healthcare. As an early adopter of ABUS, she discusses the clinical need and her results with ABUS. She also provides her impressions of the newly introduced Invenia ABUS 2.0, and demonstrates a case utilizing the coronal view.

See GE Healthcare Introduces Invenia ABUS 2.0.

Deployed on Microsoft Azure, GE Healthcare’s iCenter is a secure, cloud-based tool that provides visibility to asset service and utilization data, with 24x7 access. Watch the video below and visit Booth #7334 at RSNA 2018 to see how GE Healthcare and Microsoft are elevating radiology, together.

DAIC and ITN Editor Dave Fornell discusses some of the most innovative new computed tomography (CT) technology and trends at the Society of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography (SCCT) 2017 meeting. Read the article "Advances in Cardiac CT Technology" and watch VIDEO: Advances in Cardiac CT Imaging.

Discover GE Healthcare’s Interventional Image Guided Systems and find out how our latest technologies including the Discovery IGS 730 and Discovery IGS 740 products and our ASSIST solutions can help you provide better outcomes for your patients.

Monica Saini, M.D., consultant medical director — ABUS at GE Healthcare, discusses the necessity for personalized breast care, and how Automated Breast Ultrasound (ABUS) helps meet the challenges of screening and diagnostic imaging of dense breast tissue. To learn more about Automated Breast Ultrasound, please visit gehealthcare.com/inveniaabus.

Examples of technologies on the market and a discussion of what to look for in PACS and CVIS workflow efficiencies with Ascendian Healthcare Consultant Jef Williams. Editor Dave Fornell takes viewers on a tour of some of the key workflow improvements offered by health IT vendors in their software on the expo floor at Healthcare Information Management and Systems Society (HIMSS) 2016 meeting.

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Resetting the life of your scanner with Signa Explorer Lift is simpler than you may think. Watch what happens when a magnet undergoes the Explorer Lift process.

See the benefits that can be realized when you reset the lift of your scanner with Signa Explorer Lift.

With the LOGIQ E9 XDclear 2.0 ultrasound system, GE Healthcare rethought virtually every element of the imaging chain, from the pulse of the probes to the clarity of the pixels. The result is their highest level of imaging performance yet.

Video discussion of new technology and trend highlights at the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) 2015 meeting with ITN editor Dave Fornell and ITN contributing editor Greg Freiherr.

ITN/DAIC Editor Dave Fornell shows his choices for some of the most innovative new imaging technologies on the expo floor at Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) 2015 meeting.

Interview with Jon Brubaker, MBA, RCVT, ultrasound technology analyst, MD Buyline, explains the trends and new technology he saw at the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) 2015 meeting.

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