by
Lauren Dubinsky, Senior Reporter | October 25, 2024
GE HealthCare's StarGuide
GE HealthCare and the University of Medicine Essen are partnering to create a Theranostics Center of Excellence in Europe.
"Theranostics is helping provide a pathway to hope in treating advanced-stage cancer," Jean-Luc Procaccini, president and CEO of Molecular Imaging and Computed Tomography at GE HealthCare, told HCB News. "Offering a personalized approach that uses both diagnosis and therapy as part of the treatment, it helps clinicians leverage diagnostics and enables more accurate disease staging and treatment delivery."
One of the goals of this collaboration is to bolster production of and access to radioisotopes to be used for precise disease diagnoses and monitoring. GE HealthCare has plans to equip the university's new tracer development center with radiopharmacy technology including a cyclotron, synthesizer, and lab technologies.
The company will also give the university a new Omni Legend 32cm PET/CT, SIGNA PET/MR, and SPECT/CT systems including StarGuide, NM/CT 870 DR, and NM 830. These systems feature deep learning and AI technology such as auto positioning, Precision DL, and Clarify DL.
The university will also have access to MIM Software's imaging analytics and digital workflow solutions, which GE HealthCare
added to its portfolio earlier this year.
Researchers at the university will also be working with the company to explore the potential of long axial field of view PET/CT technology. They plan to use this technology to investigate new clinical pathways in oncology.
When asked if long axial field of view PET/CT is the future of PET/CT, Procaccini explained that different healthcare systems have different needs.
"For many, middle-range axial field of view PET/CT, above 30 cm, are powerful solutions that deliver fantastic clinical outcomes," he added. "For others, we are working on a long axial field of view PET/CT with the potential to deliver record high sensitivity for ultralow-dose scans, fast acquisitions, multi-organ dynamic imaging, and impressive imaging of slow decaying, low-activity tracers."
This technology is still in the research and development phase and is not currently for sale, as it has not yet received CE-mark, FDA approval or any other national regulatory authority for commercial availability.
GE HealthCare also partnered with BAMF Health last year to provide turnkey theranostics care offerings, which allowed for the creation of new centers and a broader adoption of theranostics in the U.S. The company has also collaborated with St. Joseph's Health Care London and the Lawson Health Research Institute in Canada on the development of their Theranostics Center of Excellence.
"We are thrilled to collaborate with all institutions interested in adopting this evolving practice and enabling more personalized care to help improve patient outcomes," said Procaccini.