GE Healthcare, the $17 billion unit of General Electric Company (GE), showcased its industry-leading healthcare technologies products, services and solutions at Arab Health 2008, the region’s premier health sector exhibition at the Dubai International Convention Centre.

On display at GE Healthcare’s booth was a wide range of advanced technological innovations that complement the region’s focus on improving the standard of healthcare as well as reducing healthcare costs through timely intervention. A digital mammography workshop – the first of its kind in the region – served as a forum for medical practitioners to familiarise themselves with some of the advanced technologies used in breast screening and treatment.
Isam Moursy, general manager at GE Healthcare for the Middle East region, said: “Developing technologies that enable healthcare providers in the region to diagnose disease at the earliest possible stage, when there can be many treatment options for the patient, is better medicine. It also makes simple economic sense. It’s all about the “early health” model of care.”
In a significant first, GE presented the first-ever digital mammography workshop in the region in collaboration with the National Expert and Training Centre for Breast Cancer Screening in Nijmegen (LRBC). Dr Rolland Holland MD, professor of pathology at the University Medical Centre of Nijmegen, and chief pathologist of the Dutch Mammographic Screening Programme, explained the modalities of digital mammography.
The workshop was open to radiologists, radiology residents, radiographers, radiography technicians, surgeons and any professional with experience in mammography. It afforded a unique chance for radiologists to review and manipulate real biopsy proven cases using high-end digital review stations. The participants were provided an opportunity to practice and interpret real screen-detected cases on a digital review station either alone or in tandem.
GE’s comprehensive portfolio of innovative technologies, services and solutions  highlighted at Arab Health 2008 introduced a new level to the healthcare industry and could have a profound impact on medical diagnostics in the Middle East, GE said.
Some of the technologies, trends and clinical images displayed in the GE Healthcare booth at Arab Health 2008 included:
• Positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) with exclusive GE technologies for respiratory and cardiac motion management. 
• GE Healthcare ultrasound systems based on technologies designed to specifically address the unique needs of several radiology care areas.  The LOGIQ Care Area Series ultrasound systems are customised to radiology specialty areas such as pediatric radiology, vascular laboratories and breast imaging.
• iCAD, Inc, an industry-leading provider of Computer-Aided Detection (CAD) solutions and GE Healthcare, a manufacturer of Senographe Full-Field Digital Mammography (FFDM) systems, highlighted the agreement to develop a customised version of SecondLook Digital specific to GE’s Senographe and Seno Advantage family of systems.
• The Continuum technology non-obsolescence programme - a commitment to its magnetic resonance (MR) customers which includes a combination of no charge and cost-effective purchasable, software and hardware upgrades for its installed base MR customers. 
• GE Healthcare’s Innova 4100, the world’s first large-format digital flat panel detector imaging system, which celebrated its fifth anniversary. A suite of Centricity solutions targeted for hospitals and outpatient imaging centers. 
• The unveiling of a series of advanced innovations that make maternal-infant healthcare more effective. GE’s Maternal Infant Care portfolio features a new CTG Corometrics 250cx Series, a revolutionary Panda Warmer and a new bank light system called Lullaby PT.
• GE Healthcare’s MUSE cardiology information system, the MAC 400 – a unique ECG and GE Healthcare’s algorithms for the measurement of T-wave Alternans (TWA) and Heart Rate Turbulence (HRT).
“GE is investing 1 billion in R&D annually to deliver innovative tools that can potentially help physicians diagnose disease at the earliest possible stage. This customised approach is paramount in reinforcing our commitment to technology leadership, collaborations with leading institutions and breakthroughs in innovation. We intend to help transform healthcare delivery in this region and beyond,” said Moursy.
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 said..
“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 UK, GE Healthcare is a $17 billion unit of General Electric Company. Worldwide, GE Healthcare employs more than 46,000 people committed to serving healthcare professionals and their patients in more than 100 countries.