Summary: GE HealthCare and UC San Diego are collaborating to improve MRI protocols for diagnosing and treating female-specific pelvic conditions like endometriosis and ovarian cancer. This project aims to enhance women’s health by enabling faster diagnosis and treatment, while also developing comprehensive educational materials for clinicians globally.

Key Takeaways:

  • Collaborative Effort: GE HealthCare and UC San Diego aim to improve MRI protocols for female pelvic conditions.
  • Educational Impact: The project will create comprehensive educational materials to aid clinicians globally.
  • Enhanced Women’s Health: The collaboration focuses on filling gaps in women’s healthcare, improving diagnosis and treatment quality.

GE HealthCare today announced a collaboration with the University of California San Diego School of Medicine to investigate advanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) protocols and techniques for female-specific diseases and conditions of the pelvis and develop comprehensive educational materials for clinicians.

Focus on Women’s Pelvic Health

The goal of the project is to elevate women’s pelvic health, filling an important gap in medical research and care. Its results have the potential to enable clinicians to make more informed decisions, diagnose diseases and conditions faster, and provide increased access to quality pelvic care for women.

The collaboration aims to elevate women’s pelvic healthcare and increase access to innovative imaging solutions for female patients, enabling faster diagnosis and treatment and improved patient care.

Leadership and Site

The Center for Translational Imaging and Precision Medicine (CTIPM) at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine will be the collaborating site to conduct the project. The project will be led by Rebecca Rakow-Penner, MD, PhD, associate professor of radiology and Bioengineering at UC San Diego and deputy director for CTIPM.

Range of Diseases Covered

The project encompasses a wide spectrum of diseases of the female pelvis, including better visualization of endometriosis and ovarian cancer using MRI techniques in both clinical and academic research settings.

“We aim to democratize advanced imaging for women and increase access to high quality care in the San Diego community and beyond,” said Dr. Rebecca Rakow-Penner, Director of the Women’s Imaging Lab at UC San Diego Health. “Women’s care requires a personalized approach and we hope to advance care solutions for women by improving the diagnosis and management of female pelvic conditions, both benign and malignant. The results of the collaboration will have the potential to help improve the patient experience and equip clinicians with a toolset to deliver a higher level of care that every woman deserves access to.”

Training and Educational Materials

The project plans to create training and educational materials alongside the protocols, all of which could be available as resources for GE HealthCare MRI users around the world, in the hopes of creating a lasting impact in regional and global communities. Increasing access to advanced imaging techniques for clinicians can help drive effective diagnosis and management of pelvic diseases and conditions for female patients.

“Diseases and conditions impacting female patients below the belly button are often misdiagnosed, misunderstood, and understudied in our industry,” stated Erin Angel, PhD, GE HealthCare global vice president, research and scientific affairs. “We are optimistic that the results of the project could support more standard adoption of advanced imaging techniques and ultimately empower clinicians to make more informed decisions. We believe this project can help bridge an important gap in women’s healthcare and increase access to innovative solutions to women around the world.”