Customizing the EP Lab
GE is now collaborating with STERIS Corporation, a leading provider of infection prevention and surgical technologies and services for the healthcare, pharmaceutical and research markets, to provide LED lighting, jointly designed EP cockpit and cable management solutions. In addition, STERIS brings years of project design management expertise and its proprietary 3-D room design capabilities to the EP planning process. STERIS and GE consultants are using these animated virtual reality renderings to help design and optimize the physical layout of a hospital's EP lab and to increase efficiency and save space within the interventional suite.


Helping Develop the EP system of the future
Imricor Medical Systems Inc. develops magnetic resonance- (MR) guided ablation catheters and associated systems, based on patents licensed from Johns Hopkins University. Though the agreement, GE and Imricor intend to co-develop a radiation-free cardiac EP system. The resulting system would likely combine GE's MR platform and CardioLab® recording system, as well as Imricor's Vision® ablation catheters and Bridge® guidance systems. The point of the collaboration is to provide a truly innovative MR-guided, catheter-based cardiac EP technique that may lower procedure time and help eliminate ionizing radiation exposure for patients and clinicians.

"GE Healthcare has initiated these alliances to provide tools for a tailored EP suite and also to help increase productivity," says Saha. "We are proud to showcase such strong allies in the EP healthcare arena."


About Hansen Medical, Inc.
Hansen Medical Inc., based in Mountain View, Calif., develops products and technology using robotics for the accurate positioning, manipulation and control of catheters and catheter-based technologies. Its first product, the Sensei(R) 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. The Sensei system is compatible with fluoroscopy, ultrasound, 3D surface map and patient electrocardiogram data and was cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in May 2007 for manipulation and control of certain mapping catheters in Electrophysiology (EP) procedures. The safety and effectiveness of the Sensei system for use with cardiac ablation catheters in the treatment of cardiac arrhythmias, including atrial fibrillation (AF), have not been established. In the European Union, the Sensei system is cleared for use during EP procedures, such as guiding catheters in the treatment of AF. Additional information can be found at www.hansenmedical.com.

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