GE Healthcare pr?sente le premier syst?me mondial de surveillance complet et interactif des patients en cours d'intervention chirurgicale con?u pour les anesth?sistes

( BW)(GE-HEALTHCARE)(GE) GE Healthcare Introduces World's First System Designed to Provide Anesthesiologists with a Complete, Interactive View of Patients During Surgery

Business Editors/Health/Medical Writers

VIENNA, Austria--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 30, 2005-- New Carestation(R) Incorporates Modern Aviation Advances to Help Anesthesiologists Manage Life-Critical Situations in the Operating Room GE Healthcare, a division of General Electric Company (NYSE:GE), today announced that it has developed the world's first system to provide a complete, interactive view of patients during surgery, resulting in enhanced patient care during life critical situations in the operating room.

GE Healthcare's Carestation, unveiled at the European Society of Anesthesiology's annual meeting in Vienna, was developed in direct response to GE Healthcare's in-depth research on the clinical needs of more than 600 anesthesiologists and nurse anesthetists from around the world. In addition, GE Healthcare worked closely with pilots from Finland's national airline, Finnair, to identify and define commonalities between aviation and anesthesia

"GE Healthcare's new Carestation system applies the proven principles of the aviation industry to the life-critical field of anesthesia, allowing anesthesiologists to more precisely tailor life-support decisions for a patient," said Omar Ishrak, President and Chief Executive Officer of Clinical Systems at GE Healthcare.

"GE Healthcare's collaboration across industries was critical to delivering a system that truly meets the needs of the modern operating room and critical care settings "In the past, advancements such as continuous carbon dioxide monitoring (CCO2) have made major contributions to the quality of patient care in the operating room.

We anticipate that GE's new Carestation technology will rival the clinical impact of CCO2 monitoring -- becoming a standard of care in the future," explained Ishrak

GE Healthcare's Carestation simplifies the complexities of several disparate devices into an interactive, knowledge-based system.

The system's five core elements -- anesthesia delivery, vital signs monitoring, imaging, Care Assistant Suite and clinical information systems -- for the first time provide anesthesiologists the information they need, the way they need it, in one centralized system

The Care Assistant Suite, the heart of the Carestation system, is the first technology of its kind to combine a patient's vital signs with a visual overview of anesthetic drugs given.

The system analyzes complex drug interactions and presents anesthesiologists with the most pertinent information.

As a result, anesthesiologists can modify their approach based on the modeling of a patient's reaction to select anesthesia agents and other medications

"The parallels between anesthesia delivery and flying are numerous," said Captain Arto Helovuo, pilot at Finnair.

"For pilots, take-off and landing are the most critical procedures, requiring the most energy and our undivided attention. For anesthesiologists, administering the precise combination of medication and monitoring vital signs at the beginning of the surgery, and as a patient awakens, are the most critical stages." Today, there are more than 50 million surgical procedures performed each year globally.

Anesthesiologists play an essential role during surgery in managing patients' life-critical functions during procedures, which can be relatively short or last as long as eight and ten hours

"Typically, an anesthesiologist depends on more than a dozen medical devices, protocol handbooks and a calculator, mostly relying on his or her ability to mentally assimilate all of this information to manage the patient," said Michael Mitton, nurse anesthetist and Director of Clinical Affairs at GE Healthcare.

"GE Healthcare's new Carestation system will help anesthesiologists to put their focus where it belongs -- on the patient." "During our three months of interaction with anesthesiologists, we learned that it is crucial to have the right information -- whether you're a pilot flying at 30,000 feet or an anesthesiologist preparing a patient for surgery," said Captain Pekka Erkama, pilot at Finnair

GE Healthcare is introducing Carestation in selected European countries and expects the system to be commercially available in Europe by the end of 2005.

GE Healthcare estimates that Carestation technology will be used in more than 500 operating rooms by the end of 2006.

About GE Healthcare

GE Healthcare provides transformational medical technologies that will shape a new age of patient care.

GE Healthcare's expertise in medical imaging and information technologies, medical diagnostics, patient monitoring systems, disease research, drug discovery and biopharmaceuticals is dedicated to detecting disease earlier and tailoring treatment for individual patients.

GE Healthcare offers a broad range of services to improve productivity in healthcare and enable healthcare providers to better diagnose, treat and manage patients with conditions such as cancer, Alzheimer's and cardiovascular diseases.

GE Healthcare is a $14 billion unit of General Electric Company (NYSE:GE) that is headquartered in the United Kingdom.

Worldwide, GE Healthcare employs more than 42,500 people committed to serving healthcare professionals and their patients in more than 100 countries.

For more information about GE Healthcare, visit our Web site at http://www.gehealthcare.com/.

GE, Carestation, and GE Monogram are trademarks of General Electric Company.

CONTACT:

GE Healthcare Allison Cohen, +972 (0)5 4729 9742 [email protected]