GE Healthcare licenses
rights to ultrasound diagnostic protocol
December 7, 2007
 NORFOLK,
VA, AND WAUKESHA, WI — GE Healthcare, the leading manufacturer of
3D/4D ultrasound systems, has licensed a technique patented by an
Eastern Virginia Medical School (EVMS) obstetrician that can automate
the acquisition of ultrasound images used by physicians to diagnose
fetal heart defects. GE Healthcare has licensed the software for
exclusive use in its 3D/4D ultrasound systems.
Alfred Abuhamad,
M.D., chairman of obstetrics and gynecology at EVMS —
recognized worldwide for his skills in using ultrasound to detect fetal
heart defects — developed the automation protocol, called Sonography
based Volume Computer Aided Diagnosis (SonoVCAD).
“This is going to change the way
ultrasound is practiced,” said Abuhamad. “With some heart defects,
infants can die without surgery soon after birth. With an earlier
diagnosis months before birth, clinicians and the mother can plan
delivery in tertiary care centers with surgeons prepared.”
GE has incorporated Abuhamad’s
automation protocol in the Voluson E8, the next generation of the GE
Voluson ultrasound platform for women’s health care. This new 3D/4D
ultrasound system includes a number of new tools to help improve
clinical workflow, including SonoVCAD.
This paves the way for the future of
advanced volume ultrasound and image quality, enabling GE to continue
its leadership role in consistently delivering clinically relevant
technologies that transform health care.
According to the American Heart
Association, congenital heart defects rank as the most common birth
defect and the number one cause of death during the first year of life.
Nearly twice as many children die from congenital heart disease in the
United States each year as die from all forms of childhood cancers
combined.1
“Diagnosing defects in the fetal heart requires one of the most
challenging diagnostic protocols. It requires a view of the dime-sized
heart that shows all four chambers, as well as several precisely angled
views of other planes of the heart. If one plane is unobtainable by
conventional sonography on the moving fetus, diagnosis is extremely
difficult,” Abuhamad said.
Abuhamad’s protocol automates the
acquisition of images to display the planes that are needed for a
complete ultrasound evaluation of the fetal heart.
“Even for well-trained personnel,
manipulation of these planes can be difficult to perform, particularly
with relatively complex anatomic organs such as the fetal heart,” said
Abuhamad.
This proprietary SonoVCAD technology
displays all of the 2D planes, which complies with the recommended
standard screening exam of the fetal heart, as outlined by the American
Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine (AIUM), the American College of
Obstetrics and Gynecology (ACOG), the American College of Radiology (ACR)
and the International Society of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology
(ISUOG). This includes identification of the four-chamber, left outflow
tract and right outflow tract views of the fetal heart.
With the software, an ultrasound
clinician identifies a standard starting point, for the four-chamber
view of the fetal heart. Abuhamad has created algorithms that allow the
other planes to be generated from that four-chamber view. Those views
allow physicians to identify the type and severity of fetal heart
defects.
“With the insight of health care’s top
physicians, GE is developing innovative ultrasound systems that address
some of today’s most pressing health care issues,” said Terri Bresenham,
vice president of GE Healthcare’s Diagnostic Ultrasound and IT business.
“The Voluson E8 is yet another example of ultrasound’s potential to
unlock the future of advanced imaging by helping detect diseases early,
when they can be more effectively treated.”
“SonoVCAD introduces standardization
into ultrasound imaging and helps to reduce the risk of operator exam
misinterpretation. By simplifying the technical aspects associated with
a fetal ultrasound exam, the detection of fetal heart abnormalities
should also be enhanced,” said Abuhamad.
1 American Heart
Association Web site, 2007, “Congenital
Heart Defects: How Serious is the Problem?”
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