GE Healthcare, LightLab collaborate to facilitate cardiovascular imaging through OCT, X-ray

GE Healthcare (Chalfont St. Giles, UK), a global leader in healthcare solutions and LightLab Imaging Inc.(Westford, MA), a market leader in optical imaging, have announced a collaboration that enables improved workflow between GE Healthcare's Innova cardiovascular X-ray system and LightLab's C7-XR optical coherence tomography (OCT) system. Both the C7-XR and Innova systems were featured last week at the annual meeting of EuroPCR, the official congress of the European Association for Percutaneous Cardiovascular Interventions (EAPCI) in Barcelona, Spain.

"GE is constantly spearheading cutting edge technologies for the advancement of healthcare and optical coherence tomography is the latest imaging tool that expands our footprint in the cardiovascular space," said Jayant Saha, General Manager, Interventional Global Marketing for GE Healthcare. "OCT is proving to be a great asset in increasing the clinical acumen in interventional cardiology. With LightLab Imaging Inc., a leading optical imaging solution provider, GE looks forward to offering the technological advances in the field of OCT to our joint customers and the patients they care for."

The Innova X-ray imaging systems promise excellent image quality with industry-leading dose efficiency. Built on GE's advanced Innova digital detector, the Innova system aims to help physicians clearly visualize fine vessels, precisely place stents and successfully perform critical procedures. Cardiologists in the cardiac cath lab use it when performing procedures to view and treat potential coronary artery blockages that could cause heart attacks or other serious cardiovascular damage. The system is designed to provide cardiologists with more information than ever before, helping them to better diagnose and treat cardiovascular disease.

LightLab Imaging's next generation OCT system, the C7-XR, can be directly installed in the cardiac catheterization lab or radiology suite alongside GE Innova X-ray system, enabling physicians to more readily incorporate OCT technology into their procedures.

With OCT, a small optical imaging catheter is inserted into a vessel where near infrared light waves reflect off the internal microstructure within tissue or vessel walls. The reflected waves create extremely high-resolution cross-sectional images from within the artery to aid in the evaluation of disease and the management of targeted therapies. OCT is an important tool in selecting and assessing the performance of therapeutic options because it is designed to provide a more complete picture from inside the vessel. The C7-XR is a powerful high-resolution imaging system that is designed to simply and quickly provide intra-coronary images of extraordinary clarity.

David Kolstad, President and CEO of LightLab Imaging, said, "We are very pleased to bring our most advanced platform, the C7-XR system to GE and LightLab's joint customers. We believe that improving cath lab workflow, as well as the capabilities of these highly complementary imaging technologies, will benefit clinicians, patients and payors alike."

The LightLab C7-XR is available for purchase from LightLab in 20 countries in Europe, Asia, the Middle East and South America. The partners say that GE's Innova portfolio is one of the world's most trusted families of all-digital cardiovascular imaging systems.

For more information about GE Healthcare, visit the company's website. For details on LightLab Imaging see the LightLab site.