GE Healthcare and Intel have a new software hardware combination that can get the most critical X-rays to the top an ER doctor's review stack. The new solution puts GE's mobile, digital X-ray system, its artificial intelligence-powered Critical Care Suite, and Intel's computer vision platform OpenVINO in one product. The Critical Care algorithms are embedded in the imaging devices to speed up image processing time. OpenVINO improves computing power to allow hospitals to deploy this new service on existing hardware. "So, the thing that's actually capturing the images is also doing the processing," said Todd Minnigh, CMO X-Ray, GE Healthcare, in a press release.

GE Healthcare and Intel have a new software hardware combination that can get the most critical X-rays to the top an ER doctor's review stack. The new solution puts GE's mobile, digital X-ray system, its artificial intelligence-powered Critical Care Suite, and Intel's computer vision platform OpenVINO in one product. The Critical Care algorithms are embedded in the imaging devices to speed up image processing time. OpenVINO improves computing power to allow hospitals to deploy this new service on existing hardware. "So, the thing that's actually capturing the images is also doing the processing," said Todd Minnigh, CMO X-Ray, GE Healthcare, in a press release.

The FDA has approved a mobile chest x-ray system that helps detect pneumothorax – a type of collapsed lung – by flagging critical cases for triage. According to the manufacturer, GE Healthcare, Critical Care Suite is the first system of its kind to get approved by the FDA, offering a series of artificial intelligence algorithms embedded on a mobile X-ray device. Pneumothorax, the presence of gas within the pleural space between the lung and chest wall, is a problem in hospitals across the world. But the challenge is to quickly identify real cases from the suspected ones, which can be difficult in busy hospitals. But missing cases of pneumothorax can lead to total lung collapse and other potentially fatal complications, with misdiagnosis or late diagnosis affecting around 74,000 people in the US annually.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has cleared an artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm from GE Healthcare that analyzes chest x-rays for pneumothorax and helps flag suspected cases for radiologists to prioritize reading, the company announced today. The algorithm, part of a set of other quality-assurance algorithms named the Critical Care Suite, was developed to run on a GE Healthcare mobile x-ray device. The software is not yet for sale, and an outside expert expressed concern about its false positive rate. The idea for the application came from bedside clinician experience of waiting for radiologists to read chest x-rays, said Rachael Callcut, MD, MSPH, a surgeon and director of data science for the Center for Digital Health Innovation at the University of California, San Francisco. UCSF proposed developing the feature as part of a development partnership with GE Healthcare.

WAUKESHA, Wis.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--GE Healthcare today announced the Food and Drug Administration's 510(k) clearance of Critical Care Suite, an industry-first collection of artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms embedded on a mobile X-ray device. Built in collaboration with UC San Francisco (UCSF), using GE Healthcare's Edison platform, the AI algorithms help to reduce the turn-around time it can take for radiologists to review a suspected pneumothorax, a type of collapsed lung. "X-ray – the world's oldest form of medical imaging – just got a whole lot smarter, and soon, the rest of our offerings will too," says Kieran Murphy, President & CEO, GE Healthcare. "GE Healthcare is leading the way in the creation of AI applications for diagnostic imaging and taking what was once a promise and turning it into a reality. By integrating AI into every aspect of care, we will ultimately improve patient outcomes, reduce waste and inefficiencies, and eliminate costly errors. Critical Care Suite is just the beginning."

With more than 2 billion X-Ray exams done annually, X-Ray is often the hospital's first impression of a patient. Just like first impressions with people, the first image taken helps set the path going forward. "We are getting portable X-Rays all the time for our patients," said Dr. Rachael Callcut, Associate Professor of Surgery at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Medical Center and Director of Data Science for the Center for Digital Health Innovation. "When an X-Ray is taken on a patient, especially a patient who's suffering from an emergent condition or a potentially life-threatening condition, the time that it takes to process, have someone read that and have the image actually come into a queue is a really important time period where minutes and hours matter. For example, a collapsed lung, known as a pneumothorax, is a condition which strikes nearly 74,000 Americans each year[1] and can be deadly if not diagnosed quickly and accurately[2]. A pneumothorax occurs when air leaks into the space between the lung and chest wall. This air pushes on the outside of the lung and makes it collapse. It can be caused by trauma, cigarette smoking, drug abuse, certain lung diseases or be caused by complications from surgery. Today, patients who present with symptoms associated with this condition receive a chest X-Ray, which can take anywhere between two to eight hours to read[3]. Tension pneumothorax or an enlarging pneumothorax can develop as a result of delayed treatment[4], potentially leading to fatal consequences if not treated quickly. This is an example of what may be designated as a "STAT" chest X-Ray, which is supposed to be reserved for potentially life-threatening circumstances. It is a designation on the exam placed at the time of order entry and refers to the ordering provider's determination that the results require immediate interpretation and follow-up. STAT portable chest X-Rays can attribute to more than 60 percent of a radiology center's mobile chest X-ray volume, almost double that of routine exams3. "There's no universally accepted definition of what constitutes a STAT exam," said Dr. Karl Yaeger, a diagnostic radiologist at St. Luke's University Health Network in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. "Is it STAT because the patient is medically unstable?

GE Healthcare announced the Food and Drug Administration's 510(k) clearance of Critical Care Suite, a collection of artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms embedded on a mobile X-ray device. Built-in collaboration with UC San Francisco (UCSF), using GE Healthcare's Edison platform, the AI algorithms help to reduce the turn-around time it can take for radiologists to review a suspected pneumothorax, a type of collapsed lung. Additional partners in the development of Critical Care Suite include St. Luke's University Health Network, Humber River Hospital, and CARING – Mahajan Imaging – India. A prioritized "STAT" X-ray can sit waiting for up to eight hours for a radiologist's review1. However, when a patient is scanned on a device with Critical Care Suite, the system automatically analyzes the images by simultaneously searching for a pneumothorax.

Admitted patients often have to wait a number of hours for a radiologist to review their chest X-ray, even though it may be marked as urgent or STAT. That's because way too many are marked as such in most clinics. Pneumothorax, or collapsed lung, can go unnoticed in the meantime, leading to a dangerous amount of time to wait while inside the hospital. GE Healthcare's Critical Care Suite automatically processes chest scans right on the X-ray machine and flags those where it detects potential signs of pneumothorax. The attending radiologist immediately gets a copy of the scan via the hospital's PACS system and the technologist performing the scan is alerted as well, to help make sure that the patient is triaged properly.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted 510(k) clearance to GE Healthcare's Critical Care Suite -- a collection of artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms embedded on a mobile X-ray device, the healthcare business division of GE announced today. Using GE Healthcare's Edison platform, the AI aims to help reduce the turnaround time it takes radiologists to review suspected pneumothorax, a type of collapsed lung. "By integrating AI into every aspect of care, we will ultimately improve patient outcomes, reduce waste and inefficiencies and eliminate costly errors," said Kieran Murphy, president and CEO of GE Healthcare. If a patient is scanned on a device with Critical Care Suite, it will automatically analyze the images by searching for a pneumothorax, GE Healthcare claims. If suspected, an alert with the original X-ray is sent straight to the radiologist to review.