BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, GE Healthcare, a unit of General Electric Company announced new and expanded collaborations with three separate medical technology companies to enhance their electrophysiology (EP) portfolio and clinically relevant solutions. The synergies and integration between GE interventional products and their partners' medical products will be presented at Heart Rhythm 2009, May 13-16, in Boston, Mass, Booth 1403. The partner companies include: Hansen Medical Inc., STERIS® Corporation and Imricor Medical Systems, Inc.

According to Jayant Saha, GE Healthcare's General Manager of Product Marketing for the Interventional business unit, the partnerships have strong, positive implications for both GE (EP) customers and their patients. "We have partnered with some truly innovative companies that will support GE's commitment to EP, " said Saha. "The incorporation of these products with GE technology provides the industry with exciting answers for information access, enhancing quality and integration with clinical tools to provide clinically relevant solutions. Access, quality and cost combined help provide today's healthcare giver with greater practice efficiency."


Compatibility to improve EP workflow
GE and Hansen began working together last fall to try and improve workflow in the EP lab. Based in Mountain View, Calif., Hansen Medical, Inc., (Nasdaq: HNSN) develops products and technology using robotics for the accurate positioning, manipulation and control of catheters and catheter-based technologies. The agreement expands their association to pursue integration of products for the treatment of arrhythmias. The agreement also includes the intent to integrate the Sensei™ robotic catheter system with GE's Innova™ EP X-ray imaging system. The compatibility of the two products was announced in late 2008.

Hansen Medical's Sensei® Robotic Catheter System is a robotic navigation system that enables clinicians to place mapping catheters in hard-to-reach anatomical locations within the heart easily, accurately and with stability during complex cardiac arrhythmia procedures. GE's Innova is one of the world's most trusted families of all-digital EP & cardiovascular imaging systems. The Innova X-ray imaging system provides users with excellent image quality with excellent dose efficiency. Built on GE's innovative digital detector, the Innova System helps physicians perform complex electrophysiology procedures, precisely place ICDs and successfully perform critical maneuvers. The system is designed to help provide electrophysiologists with more information, resulting in better diagnosis and treatment of complex cardiac arrhythmias

More HCB News