Learning from Olympic Athletes through Medical Research Programs

Continuing efforts begun for the Torino 2006 Olympic Winter Games, GE Healthcare is working with the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) on two clinical research studies using advanced ultrasound. The first program is a cardiac clinical research study, led by Dr. Malissa Wood at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, where researchers are developing a cardiac fitness index that will help trainers and coaches understand how cardiac adaptations impact performance of high-endurance athletes. The second program, supported by Dr. Marnix van Holsbeeck from the Henry Ford Health System in Detroit, is studying how musculoskeletal ultrasound scans can identify weaknesses in an athlete's musculoskeletal structure before an injury occurs.


''We've been scanning the knees and hips of U.S. Olympic athletes, looking for asymptomatic lesions,'' said Dr. van Holsbeeck, Division Head, Musculoskeletal Radiology, Henry Ford Hospital. ''These lesions might not cause the athlete any pain but damages can be caused by continuing to train, and that is why it is so important to find the abnormalities early. The compact ultrasound system can easily travel with the teams to track and monitor these lesions throughout the Beijing Games.''

Providing Advanced Technology to National Olympic Committees and Sports
Federations

GE Healthcare is providing advanced imaging technologies to the following National Olympic Committees and Sports Federations:

The Chinese Olympic Committee (COC) is using two MAC 5500 resting ECG, one Dash 4000 bed-side monitor and one CASE Cardiac Testing System (including the T2100 treadmill). Performing regular ECGs on Chinese Olympic athletes will be an easy, non-invasive way to measure an athlete's heart beat, establish a baseline and assist physicians in detecting any possible abnormalities.

The Spanish Olympic Committee, French Judo Federation and Italian Fencing Federation will utilize the LOGIQ e, GE Healthcare's compact ultrasound system which has high quality imaging capability, operates on battery power alone for approximately one hour, and is easily carried to where it's needed, when it's needed due to its compact size. Used as first point of care on competing athletes, this tool will allow clinicians to achieve early diagnosis of athletes' tendon or ligament injuries.

About GE and the Olympic Games

GE is the exclusive provider of a wide range of innovative products and services that are integral to staging a successful Olympic Games. GE works closely with host countries, cities and organizing committees to provide infrastructure solutions for Olympic venues including power, lighting, water treatment, transportation and security, and to supply hospitals with ultrasound and MRI equipment to help doctors treat athletes. In addition, NBC Universal, a division of GE, is the exclusive U.S. media partner of the Olympic Games, with its partnership also extending through 2012. For more information, please visit

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