GE Healthcare today announced the U.S. launch of the GEM Suite (Geometry Embracing Method) of surface coils, designed for use with the Optima MR450w 1.5T wide bore magnetic resonance imaging system, at Syracuse Orthopedic Solutions, the first U.S. site to install the technology.
With uniqueness of each patient in mind, GE Healthcare engineered the new GEM Suite surface coil technology to reflect the importance of making the geometry of the equipment and technology compatible with the patient. Designed to help maximize patient comfort, the GEM Suite features ergonomic design, flexible lightweight material, padding and comfort tilt positioning -which together embrace the patient and help to enable excellent image quality for small Field of View (FOV) detail studies and whole-body reviews.
"SOS needed a new solution for our claustrophobic and large individuals," said James Colone, Director of Medical Imaging and DME Services at Syracuse Orthopedic Solutions. "Our previous solution was a .7T Open MR. It was the best solution in 2003, but with the recent introduction of the Optima MR 450w wide bore 70cm bore in a 1.5T unit, we realized that we could now perform exams of outstanding quality on this population of patients with greater comfort. The addition of the GEM coil package brought this unit to a new level of comfort for the patients and ease of use for the technologists. The technologists now actually have more options for positioning the patients with fewer coils. The GEM Suite coils are flexible so they conform to the patient's body and we especially like the Comfort Tilt Head/Neck coil that finally allows us to comfortably scan kyphotic patients."
The combined features of the entire Suite are designed to facilitate high resolution, signal-to-noise (SNR) imaging from the top of the head down to the feet, while maximizing the comfort of patients across many different shapes, sizes and situations. In general, a significant amount of patient motion during an MR exam is the result of discomfort or anxiety. By addressing the sources of discomfort and anxiety, the GEM Suite approach aims to help reduce patient motion and improve the quality of the exam.
Covering 98 percent of all exam types, the GEM coils can be used individually or combined to provide head to toe patient coverage. The GEM suite enables automatic selection of the configuration that best fits the selected region of interest. It includes a total 205cm scanning range, feet first scanning in all supported exams, and design features to embrace patients of a wide variety of shapes and sizes.
GEM Suite is designed to help technologists reposition patients less often and cover more anatomy, offering them as much as 38% less weight to handle, making patient positioning faster and easier.
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