Sponsored Sponsored content St. Luke’s Invests in AI-Enabled MRI Technology

St. Luke’s University Health Network recently announced that it has made an investment of over $30 million in leading-edge Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) technology and service from GE HealthCare. The investment is expected to expand patient access to advanced imaging with enhanced image quality while reducing scan times and patient discomfort.  
 
“This is a major win for our patients and our community,” St. Luke’s Radiology Chairman Dr. Robert Fournier said. “Medical specialties such as orthopedics, cardiology and oncology rely on imaging for diagnosis and treatment planning. At St. Luke’s, we are committed to providing the best imaging technology because we understand its vital role in modern medicine.”  

This latest MRI investment follows previous commitments to GE HealthCare’s imaging solutions, including a $30 million investment in CT technology in 2023 and an $11 million investment in ultrasound technology in 2020.  

“We are pleased to build upon our more than 30-year relationship with St. Luke’s to upgrade their MR fleet, including adding artificial intelligence technology,” said Catherine Estrampes, President and CEO, U.S. and Canada at GE HealthCare. “We are proud to work with St. Luke’s to enable greater precision, efficiency and access to advanced technology for their patients.” 

Standardizing imaging technology across the Network is expected to help improve operational efficiency, which will ultimately expand patient access.

The new MRI systems can help enhance the patient experience by reducing claustrophobia with wider scanners and also come equipped with Artificial Intelligence (AI), which can help to significantly improve both the quality and speed of MRI scans.  

Scan times may be reduced by up to 83 percent with GE HealthCare’s Sonic DL AI application—potentially capturing an image of the heart in as little as a single heartbeat—while helping to optimize the image quality.

St. Luke’s will be one of the first network health systems in the United States to implement Intelligent™ Radiation Therapy (iRT) for MR, a software solution that can help improve the precision of radiation therapy planning, potentially resulting in a shorter timeline to treatment over conventional CT for certain types of cancers.

“In addition to the tremendous advantages this GE HealthCare technology offers our health system,” Dr. Fournier added, “it presents an invaluable educational opportunity for our physicians in residency and fellowship training programs. They’ll gain hands-on experience with the latest AI-driven imaging technology, placing them at the forefront of next-generation medicine and allowing them to witness firsthand how innovation improves patient care and outcomes.”

This community health news is brought to you in partnership with St. Luke’s University Health Network.