GE Healthcare and Mayo Clinic Announce Collaboration to Develop Clinical High-Field Body MRI

Tuesday, May 16, 2006

GE Healthcare and Mayo Clinic announced an ambitious program for clinical development of high-field magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the body. This collaboration, announced at the 14th Annual Scientific Meeting and Exhibition of the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, is designed to help realize the full potential of 3.0T (Tesla) MR systems as a diagnostic tool, particularly for the abdomen, heart, breast and musculoskeletal system.

The collaboration, through the Body MRI Advanced Development Unit at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, will develop and apply the most clinically viable techniques for 3T MR imaging, the highest strength magnetic field in clinical use, and allow Mayo Clinic patients to benefit from all that high field MRI technology can offer in accurately diagnosing conditions such as breast and prostate cancer, liver disease and coronary artery disease.

"Accurate diagnosis is the critical forerunner to effective medical treatment, which is why Mayo is focusing on improving the diagnostic capabilities of advanced MR imaging," says Kimberly K. Amrami, M.D., head of the body MR imaging practice at Mayo Clinic in Rochester. "We are happy that GE agreed to a new level of collaboration with us for the benefit of patients. Both Mayo and GE Healthcare bring exceptional resources and enthusiasm to the development of clinical applications for this exciting new technology."

GE will be installing at Mayo Clinic a state-of-the-art 3T MR system and collaborating through a team of scientists and engineers to develop new imaging tools and protocols for high field MRI.

"This announcement marks a significant milestone in our long collaboration with Mayo Clinic, one of the most widely respected healthcare institutions in the world," says John Chiminski, vice president and general manager of GE Healthcare's global MR business. "By working together, we will enjoy an excellent clinical focus by bringing all of our prototypes to one place for the most rigorous scrutiny and rapid feedback."

"Through our collaboration with Mayo Clinic, we're investing in the future of healthcare," says Chiminski. "This collaboration embodies our vision of accelerating personalized healthcare from discovery to practice."

About Mayo Clinic

Mayo Clinic is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the diagnosis and treatment of complex patient illness in an environment in which physicians from every medical specialty work together to meet patient needs. Mayo Clinic provides comprehensive clinic and hospital services at its sites in Rochester, Minn.; Jacksonville, Fla.; and Scottsdale/Phoenix, Ariz. Mayo Clinic integrates clinical practice, education and research with an unwavering focus on meeting patient needs. More than 2,500 Mayo Clinic physicians and scientists and 42,000 allied health staff treat more than half a million people each year.

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 and treat disease, so their 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 $15 billion unit of General Electric Company (NYSE: GE). Worldwide, GE Healthcare employs more than 43,000 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.
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About Mayo Clinic

Mayo Clinic is the first and largest integrated, not-for-profit group practice in the world. Doctors from every medical specialty work together to care for patients, joined by common systems and a philosophy of "the needs of the patient come first." More than 3,700 physicians, scientists and researchers and 50,100 allied health staff work at Mayo Clinic, which has sites in Rochester, Minn; Jacksonville, Fla; and Scottsdale/Phoenix, Ariz. and community based providers in more than 70 locations in Southern Minn., Western Wis. and Northeast Iowa. These locations treat more than half a million people each year. To obtain the latest news releases from Mayo Clinic, go to www.mayoclinic.org/news. For information about research and education, visit www.mayo.edu. MayoClinic.com is available as a resource for your health stories.