MADISON, WISCONSIN: GE Healthcare Lunar, based in Madison, Wisconsin and Wuxi, China, recently celebrated 40 years of serving customer bone health and body composition needs with an event at Camp Randall Stadium at the University of Wisconsin. The Lunar Radiation Corporation was founded in 1973 by Richard Mazess, Ph.D, Professor of Medical Physics at the University of Wisconsin. GE Healthcare acquired Lunar in 2000, helping Lunar to distinguish itself as a leader and innovator of DXA (dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry), the primary technology used in bone mineral densitometry.

The GE employee event at Camp Randall opened with remarks from Dr. Neil Binkley-UW faculty and founder of the UW Osteoporosis Clinical Center and the Osteoporosis Clinical Research Program. The remarks were followed by a tour of UW's Sports Performance Lab where the Lunar iDXA*-GE's latest generation DXA system-is used by the UW Athletic Department in research and in monitoring the body composition of UW athletes.

As part of the Women's Health division of the Detection & Guidance Solutions business within GE Healthcare, Lunar products assess patient skeletal health to determine osteoporosis and fracture risk. Recent Lunar applications also include tools that go beyond bone health to accurately measure lean and fat mass-including visceral fat-which can help in the management of chronic conditions like obesity and diabetes, as well as in sports medicine to help athletes attain peak performance by monitoring the effects of training.

"For the last 40 years, patients and physicians around the world have depended on Lunar technologies to help them understand bone density to assess osteoporosis and fracture risk, as well as to monitor pediatric development. More recently, this technology is also providing key information about obesity and diseases like type 2 diabetes," commented Prahlad Singh, General Manager Women's Health, GE Healthcare - Detection & Guidance Solutions (DGS).

Fundamental to GE Healthcare's vision is to help address the health burdens faced in society from widespread conditions like obesity and osteoporosis with innovative solutions. Obesity affects over 300 million patients worldwide.1 It is not just a problem for developed countries as the number of patients affected by obesity and its related conditions is increasing in the emerging markets.

1 World Health Organization, "Fact Sheet: Obesity and overweight." http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs311/en/

GE Healthcare

Recently, GE Healthcare launched Corescan*, which allows physicians to measure visceral adipose tissue (VAT). Also known as "belly fat" or "organ fat," VAT is located around the organs and is related to diseases such as hypertension, cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes.

"Just as GE Lunar has advanced the monitoring and treatment osteoporosis and fracture risk over the past 40 years, we are continuing this tradition of innovation with CoreScan in the areas of obesity and diseases like type 2 diabetes," concluded Singh.

Mike Kelly, GE Healthcare Lunar business leader, added, "The next 40 years for Lunar will be as strong and innovative as the last. We continue to make strategic investments in our people and products. We're excited for upcoming products and features that will help change the way clinicians care for their patients."

With Lunar, GE Healthcare is a leader in developing versatile applications of DXA technology and its commitment to this innovation remains. After 40 years, GE Lunar continues the tradition of advancing skeletal health and body composition assessment.

*Trademark of General Electric Company.

World Health Organization, "Fact Sheet: Obesity and overweight." http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs311/en/

Other useful links: http://newsroom.gehealthcare.com/articles/body-composition-analysis-tool-british-triathletes-london-2012/http://newsroom.gehealthcare.com/articles/pga-tour/

About GE Healthcare

GE Healthcare provides transformational medical technologies and services to meet the demand for increased access, enhanced quality and more affordable healthcare around the world. GE (NYSE: GE) works on things that matter - great people and technologies taking on tough challenges. From medical imaging, software & IT, patient monitoring and diagnostics to drug discovery, biopharmaceutical manufacturing technologies and performance improvement solutions, GE Healthcare helps medical professionals deliver great healthcare to their patients.

Caitlin Abele
Schwartz MSL for GE Healthcare
(415) 817-2534