GE Healthcare and Imricor Medical Systems Collaborate on Revolutionary MRI-Guided Cardiac Electrophysiology System

New collaboration aims to improve outcomes, lower procedure times, and eliminate radiation exposure

Waukesha, wi. - GE Healthcare and Imricor Medical Systems announced today their agreement to co-develop a radiation-free cardiac EP offering. The alliance combines leading technology – GE’s MR platform and Imricor’s devices and systems – to provide a revolutionary MR-guided, catheter-based EP technique that improves outcomes, lowers procedure time and eliminates ionizing radiation exposure for patients and clinicians.

Together with GE’s highly advanced MR systems, the goal is to deliver the tools doctors need to cure atrial fibrillation and other cardiac arrhythmias faster, more effectively, and without the x-ray exposure of conventional methods,” said Steve Wedan, president and CEO of Imricor. “MR-guided cardiac ablation represents a quantum leap in medical technology, with the potential to significantly improve outcomes for less expense, making it a great overall value for the healthcare system. We are thrilled to be working with the world class team at GE to make this vision a reality.”

In the U.S. alone, the most common form of cardiac arrhythmia affects an estimated 6.3 million individuals annually, which has potential for treatment with cardiac EP procedures. As conventional EP devices are incompatible with MR technology, x-ray guidance is currently widely used - despite lacking clear visibility to an already complex procedure. The collaboration combines GE Healthcare’s CardioLab® EP Recording System with MR-compatible products from Imricor, including Vision Ablation Catheters and Bridge Guidance Systems.

“We see a significant potential for MR-guided endovascular AF ablation treatments in the future. Providing cardiologist with the ability to accurately visualize myocardial wall motion abnormalities and real-time intra-procedural treatment assessments, should significantly improve outcomes and reduce the risk associated with conventional ablation catheters,” said Bryan Van Meter, GE Healthcare MR Interventional Global Marketing Manager. “In investigating the technology required for a comprehensive MR guided EP solution , we were impressed with Imricor’s technology leadership, intellectual property and relationships with key luminaries.”

About GE Healthcare
GE Healthcare provides transformational medical technologies and services that are shaping a new age of patient care. Our expertise in medical imaging and information technologies, medical diagnostics, patient monitoring systems, performance improvement, drug discovery, and biopharmaceutical manufacturing technologies is helping clinicians around the world re-imagine new ways to predict, diagnose, inform, treat and monitor disease, so patients can live their lives to the fullest.

GE Healthcare’s broad range of products and services enable healthcare providers to better diagnose and treat cancer, heart disease, neurological diseases and other conditions earlier. Our vision for the future is to enable a new “early health” model of care focused on earlier diagnosis, pre-symptomatic disease detection and disease prevention. Headquartered in the United Kingdom, GE Healthcare is a $17 billion unit of General Electric Company (NYSE: GE). Worldwide, GE Healthcare employs more than 46,000 people committed to serving healthcare professionals and their patients in more than 100 countries. For more information about GE Healthcare, visit our website at www.gehealthcare.com.