GE Healthcare Systems is a $12-billion business that develops computed tomography, magnetic resonance, ultrasound scanning, molecular imaging, patient care solutions, X-Ray, life support systems and home health solutions. It is part of an industry that is away from public gaze but develops technologies that have a high impact on healthcare.
President of GE Healthcare Systems, Thomas Gentile, speaks to ET about recent technology developments and also looks at the future. Edited excerpts:
What is the impact of the healthcare systems industry on healthcare?
First of all, the technologies we use have become more sophisticated and we have been able to generate better quality images.
They have enabled earlier detection, better diagnostic capability, better treatment and better monitoring of results. Our most mature modality is the X-Ray. It has been around for a 100 years, and today it still accounts for 65% of all images that have been taken.
And yet the innovation continues. We have moved from analog to digital and we have also been able to make the units more portable, which reduces the need to move patients which can cause injury and open people up to infection.
Magnetic resonance gives very clear images and enables a number of very effective diagnoses. But if you go into a magnetic resonance scanner, the bore can be claustrophobic. In the last few years we have been able to increase the size of the bore while maintaining the quality of the images. We have also been able to improve the productivity of the scanners.
We have also made significant investments in software.
We have focused on improved patient safety. Computed tomography is an extremely powerful diagnostic tool. It can make diagnoses of heart disease, traumatic head injuries, liver and abdominal disease, and yet it does have radiation exposure.
And the amount of radiation exposure due to medical imaging has decreased significantly over the last few years. For one, in the last 10 years, we have been able to reduce the amount of radiation from a CT scan by over 95%.
Why has the cost of imaging not come down like it does in all technologies as they improve? The cost of an MRI, for example, is roughly the same as it was 10 years ago.
While the state-of-the-art technology costs the same as it was 10 years ago, the type of machine we had 10 years ago is much cheaper today. If you go back five or 10 years ago, the state-of-the-art ultrasound machine would cost $200,000. Today, it is more like $100,000.
We have machines that can deliver quality images, as good as they were 10 years ago, for less than $10,000. On the flip side though, we continue to produce better technology that leads to better images. Those can still be significant investments but you get a lot more capability as a result.
What is your fundamental goal in R&D?
We are trying to help clinicians improve clinical outcomes. We say @work for a healthier world. In India we say @work for a healthier India. Each year in my business, we invest $750 million in developing new technologies. That investment leads to 60 or 70 new products each year.
That represents 25% of our annual revenue. So, our entire portfolio changes every four years. We understand the latest trends, the opportunities the clinicians want and design products to meet those.
One area that we are excited about is developing procedures that are less invasive, minimally invasive or even non-invasive. Those minimally invasive procedures take less time, cost less and have faster recoveries.
We are also seeing the development of completely non-invasive procedures.
One that is being tested rigorously in India is MR-guided focused ultrasound. The technology that uses magnetic resonance to identify where a tumour is in the body, and then go using ultrasonic rays almost like a magnifying glass to go into the body without an incision.
In the last 10 years, what is the key advance in technology that has changed healthcare?
Molecular imaging. It is the use of radioactive isotopes which are injected into the body and they go to a tumorous cell and they emit signals which are picked up by a sensitive instrument. But the image is not just anatomical in nature. It is functional.
So, you can actually know and see the metabolic activity in the cell. And combining it with the anatomical image from a traditional modality like MRI or CT, you are able to learn more about the disease.
It is used today a lot in oncology. In the future molecular imaging is going to be extensively used for cardiologyas and neurology to understand any development that impacts neuro-degenerative dis diseases like Parkinson's or Alzheimer's.