GE Healthcare (NYSE:GE) recently announced that it has collaborated with Spectronic Medical to make AI-based software for more precise cancer treatment planning.
Spectronic Medical’s AI-based software can be used with GE Healthcare’s AIR Recon DL technology for MR-only based radiotherapy planning for better soft tissue differentiation than traditional CT.
About 60% of cancer patients require radiation therapy, which requires high-quality images to target lesions precisely and preserve healthy tissues. CT images are the gold standard for radiation, but they don’t have soft-tissue contrast.
“By using an MR image and creating a synthetic CT image, our MRI Planner software is designed to improve accuracy, increasing the precision by which radiotherapy can be delivered to the patient, as well as simplifying the physician’s workflow,” said Spectronic Medical CEO Carl Siversson. “Our customers say the benefits are enormous – it could increase the chances of successful cancer treatment and minimize the negative side-effects from radiotherapy, which often follow patients throughout their lives.”
GE Healthcare and Spectronic Medical collaborated to create a complete deep learning imaging solution. AIR Recon DL is a deep learning image reconstruction technology that uses the raw data from the MR scanner. It reduces images noise, maximizes image quality and resolution and shortens scan times. The high-quality MR images are then converted into synthetic CT images using Spectronic Medical’s AI-based software to produce images with MR soft tissue details that will help clinicians more accurately target lesions, according to GE Healthcare.
“We have found MR imaging in radiation therapy improves the accuracy of our treatment delivery,” Dr. Adalsteinn Gunnlaugsson, a physician at Skåne University Hospital in Sweden, said in a news release. “With the single sequence approach of the Spectronic MRI Planner software, generated synthetic CT allows us to eliminate conventional CT examination and the need for multimodal image registration. MR only radiation therapy planning with our GE SIGNA Architect MR Radiation Oncology Solution allows us to streamline our clinical workflow and deliver treatment more precisely to our patients.”
AIR Recon DL has already benefited more than half a million patients around the world, with clinical users observing sharper and less noisy images and up to a 50% reduction in exam times, according to Ben Newton, GM of oncology at GE Healthcare. “Now, we are delighted to combine this breakthrough image reconstruction technology with Spectronic’s AI-based software for use in the brain, pelvic, head and neck radiotherapy planning. Together, we are introducing a full AI and Deep Learning-based MR radiation oncology solution to healthcare providers to help enable high-precision treatment planning and improve clinical outcomes for thousands of radiotherapy patients.”