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GE Healthcare announced that it has shipped more than 2,300 units of the OEC 9900 Elite C-arm mobile fluoroscopic imaging systems in the U.S,over the past 18-month period.

A C-arm uses fluoroscopic x-rays to produce a 'live' image feed displayed on monitors during a wide range of surgical procedures. For more than three decades, GE Healthcare has been a leader in mobile C-arm surgical imaging with 7 out of 10 surgeons choosing GE systems to help them visualize internal body structures during surgery.

Customers Waited: Nearly three years ago, the future of GE’s Surgery business unit was in jeopardy as a consent decree with the FDA prohibited the business from manufacturing or distributing OEC surgical equipment to customers until quality system processes were improved to meet FDA standards. Remarkably, hundreds of OEC C-arm customers who wanted an OEC C-arm made the decision to wait. When the Surgery business unit resumed shipping in May 2008, more than 300 systems were delivered in the first 10 days. “Some customers placed orders for an OEC system prior to our stoppage, and many preferred to wait. Cottage Hospital in Woodsville, New Hampshire purchased an OEC 9900 Elite in 2006, before shipping stopped. As the Director of Radiology for this 25-bed critical access hospital, Marcy Rushford (BS, RDMS, RTRM) and her staff desperately needed a new C-arm and had to make a tough decision.

Surgical Solutions: GE’s OEC family of products provide superb fluoroscopic X-ray images in general, orthopedic, cardiac, vascular and urologic surgical procedures. The time, resources and expertise invested have elevated the quality and reliability of the OEC products, with the 9900 Elite’s uptime during testing increased to 98 percent. A dedicated group of 200 service engineers and 60 clinical application specialists are committed to ensuring that every OEC system’s performance is maximized through world-class service and customer-recommended service training and support programs.The GE Healthcare Image Intensifier (II) technology helps healthcare professionals capture clear, accurate surgical images in both large and small patients during most surgical procedures. OEC systems’ II technology offers a Detective Quantum Efficiency (DQE) rating - the rating used to measure image quality - consistently at 65 percent, even in dense anatomy cases.

McCabe is proud of OEC’s progress and is encouraged by the ability of the business to deliver systems to so many customers during tough economic times. “Our customers know that the quality fluoroscopic mobile imaging provided by GE can positively impact patient outcomes, while reliability and support can impact productivity and maximize their investment.”

Source: GE Healtcare

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