Chalfont St. Giles, UK and Munich, Germany--GE Healthcare, a unit of General Electric Company (NYSE:GE), has acquired Image Diagnost International GmbH, a provider of information technology (IT) systems used in the diagnosis of breast cancer. Image Diagnost's software offering will expand GE Healthcare's capabilities in breast cancer detection, offering clinicians and national screening services one of the most comprehensive ranges of systems available.

Image Diagnost develops integrated software solutions for mammography workflow and image processing. Digital mammography, first commercialized by GE Healthcare in 1999, brings significant benefits to the diagnosis of breast cancer such as improved cancer detection rates for women with dense breast tissue and ease of use. As the number of hospitals, clinics and screening services using digital mammography increases, there is a significant and growing demand for integrated software solutions to facilitate reporting, storage, sharing and transmission of mammography data. Image Diagnost has developed a suite of unique software solutions to meet the needs of this growing demand.

David Caumartin, General Manager of GE Healthcare's Mammography business, said "Image Diagnost and GE Healthcare have a shared vision on how best to accelerate the adoption of digital mammography and to harness the benefits that the new technology brings to the diagnosis and detection of breast cancer. Image Diagnost as a strong track record of customer-focused innovation, demonstrated by the rapid and widespread acceptance of their products by leading European hospitals and breast cancer screening services."
GE Healthcare plans to develop the Image Diagnost facility in Munich, Germany, into a centre of excellence in breast cancer detection software. Caumartin added "The combination of GE Healthcare's skills in the development of imaging equipment together with the expertise of the team at Image Diagnost is a major step forward in assisting hospitals worldwide to use digital mammography to its full potential. Expanding GE Healthcare's expertise in this area supports our Early Health objective of developing tools to help doctors diagnose and treat disease earlier."

Image Diagnost, founded in 2005, has grown rapidly in Germany, and has over 150 installations of its software suites. The company has filed for U.S. FDA approval for its Image Diagnost MammoWorkstationTM.

Dr Wilfried Schneider, founder of Image Diagnost, said "We are very excited to be part of GE Healthcare. The additional resources that GE Healthcare brings will allow us to accelerate our development programs and bring our products to a much wider customer base. The combination of the two companies will bring substantial benefits to hospitals, screening services and women's healthcare worldwide."

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