12 01 09  |  CHICAGO and ST. LOUIS

GE Healthcare and Veran Medical Technologies Announce Imaging and Navigation Collaboration for Interventional Procedures at RSNA 2009

Agreement Validates compatibility of Innova® imaging systems with Veran IG4 Navigation System

Today, GE Healthcare, the $17 billion healthcare unit of General Electric Company (NYSE: GE), and Veran Medical Technologies, Inc., announced that they have collaborated to validate the compatibility of the Veran IG4 Navigation System and GE Innova® imaging systems for use in the imaging suites during interventional procedures. The announcement was made at the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) 2009 meeting in Chicago.

Veran IG4 is a multi-modality navigation system that utilizes electromagnetic localization and image fusion to display an interventional instrument, such as a biopsy needle, an aspiration needle, or an ablation needle, on a computer monitor that also displays a CT-based model of the target organ(s). GE’s Innova imaging systems acquire computerized tomography (CT)-like patient images, which under the terms of the agreement, can be exported to the Veran IG4 Navigation System in the same, imaging suite, during the same interventional procedure. The Innova CT image will be displayed as well as a virtual needle over the anatomy to be used for navigation during the procedure. The resulting displayed image will provide navigation information to help physicians insert biopsy needles, ablation (RF, cryotherapy, and microwave) probes, and other devices through the skin more quickly and with greater target accuracy. “This can help speed procedures freeing procedure room time and improving access to care while enhancing quality of care. We anticipate this collaboration will help clinicians to achieve greater accuracy, perform procedures more quickly and potentially reduce radiation dose to patients,” Jayant Saha, general manager, strategic market development for GE Healthcare.

Enhanced navigation tools

The Veran IG4 system helps enable clinicians to deliver instruments to the smallest, most difficult to access regions of the human body in order to diagnose and treat disease minimally invasively. Using Innova CT images with the Veran IG4 System may help to reduce the absorbed radiation dose through decreased use of fluoroscopy for greater patient safety.

“We look forward to working with GE Healthcare to expand the opportunities for minimally invasive procedures within the interventional suite,” said Mark Hunter, senior vice president of strategic operations for Veran Medical Technologies. “This agreement positions Veran and GE to help address the on-going need within the IR community to improve target accuracy and more closely integrate to a variety of imaging modalities.”

Known for its excellent image quality, GE wanted a collaborator whose navigation system quality equaled Innova’s imaging quality, said Saha. “Our collaboration will create new patient care strategies by improving access and improving procedural quality.”

About GE Healthcare

GE Healthcare provides transformational medical technologies and services that are shaping a new age of patient care. Our broad expertise in medical imaging and information technologies, medical diagnostics, patient monitoring systems, drug discovery, biopharmaceutical manufacturing technologies, performance improvement, and performance solutions services help our customers to deliver better care to more people around the world at a lower cost. In addition, we partner with healthcare leaders, striving to leverage the global policy change necessary to implement a successful shift to sustainable healthcare systems.

Our "healthymagination" vision for the future invites the world to join us on our journey as we continuously develop innovations focused on reducing costs, increasing access, and improving quality and efficiency around the world. Headquartered in the United Kingdom, GE Healthcare is a $17 billion unit of General Electric Company (NYSE: GE). Worldwide, GE Healthcare employs more than 46,000 people committed to serving healthcare professionals and their patients in more than 100 countries.

To learn more about GE Healthcare, please visitwww.gehealthcare.com.

About Veran Medical Technologies

Veran is a privately held image-guided medical device company focused on developing the next standard of care for minimally invasive delivery of interventional oncology therapies. Veran provides proprietary 4-D registration capability for precise targeting of lesions via its FDA-cleared platform. The Veran platform aims to reduce procedure time, reduce radiation exposure for the clinical staff, and increase targeting accuracy, enabling physicians to cost effectively treat patients with reduced co-morbidity risk. Veran is headquartered in St. Louis.

To learn more about Veran, please visitwww.veranmedical.com.

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