GE HealthCare, Stanford Medicine elevate care with total body PET/CT

Building on a collaboration that spans more than three decades, GE HealthCare has renewed its research collaboration with Stanford Medicine – with one of their key intentions being the development and research of innovative total body PET/CT technology. This effort is expected to explore new clinical pathways and help enhance patient outcomes through innovative imaging solutions.

“PET/CT has revolutionized the way we understand and treat disease by allowing us to visualize biological processes at the cellular level,” explains Dr. Quynh-Thu Le, interim Chair of the Department of Radiology, Stanford Medicine. “With total body PET/CT, we can explore new frontiers. Not only do we expect it will be faster, but we also believe it will fundamentally expand what is possible in translational research.”

Molecular imaging – and specifically the utilization of PET/CT scanners – offers opportunities for precision care across various disease states. It supports theranostics in oncology for advanced prostate cancer treatment, helps streamline radiation oncology workflows, aids in beta amyloid imaging for Alzheimer's evaluation and monitoring, and assists in myocardial perfusion evaluation for diagnosing coronary artery disease. Unlike other imaging procedures, PET/CT technology visualizes, characterizes, and quantifies biological processes at the cellular level, aiding in early disease identification, detailed assessment, and treatment planning. It is a non-invasive solution, providing critical insights that help enhance patient care and can support accelerated drug development.

Knowing the potential of this technology, researchers at Stanford Medicine and engineers at GE HealthCare aim to advance a next-generation PET/CT designed to provide new opportunities to improve diagnosis, staging, therapeutic planning, and evaluation of treatment response across various care pathways. By leveraging the technology’s capabilities, both institutions believe it has the potential to drive new clinical pathways, expedite the development and translation of new diagnostic and therapeutic agents, support existing molecular imaging and theranostics applications, and promote enhanced healthcare system efficiency.

GE HealthCare’s total body PET/CT innovation
In collaboration with a select group of leading healthcare institutions around the world, GE HealthCare aims to demonstrate how total body PET/CT imaging can overcome barriers that previously hindered widespread adoption of PET/CT beyond oncology. This initiative seeks to expand the use of PET with the goal of leveraging ultra-high sensitivity total body PET/CT technology to push the boundaries of oncology by significantly reducing scan time and the injected dose – important considerations for all patients, but particularly vulnerable patients like pediatrics, where ultra-fast scans can allow reduction in anesthesia and sedation in children.

To support this advanced research, encourage new discoveries, and meet growing clinical demands, GE HealthCare designed its total body PET/CT technology with the goal of enabling ultra-low dose scans; fast acquisitions; multi organ dynamic imaging; and dual tracer imaging. All important factors that help improve diagnosis confidence. In parallel, the technology aims to improve healthcare system efficiency by enhancing clinical workflows, supporting routine clinical practice, and improving operational efficiency.

“At GE HealthCare, innovation is in our DNA. Our total body PET/CT technology represents the next chapter in our enduring commitment to advancing medical imaging,” adds Jean-Luc Procaccini, President & CEO, Molecular Imaging and Computed Tomography, GE HealthCare. “We’re proud to collaborate with world-class institutions to explore new clinical frontiers in oncology and beyond. Together with our MIM software solutions, we’re designing flexible, AI-enhanced tools that not only aim to enhance diagnostic confidence and operational efficiency but also help clinicians deliver more precise, personalized care that can truly improve patient outcomes.”

GE HealthCare has a long-standing history of and commitment to pioneering next-generation imaging technology. From the first commercially available PET/CT solution, Discovery LS, to the development of the first silicon-based photon counting computed tomography (CT) prototype, GE HealthCare continues to push the boundaries of medical imaging for the benefit of clinicians and patients worldwide.

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