In a collaborative effort to tackle the expanding workloads of radiologists, GE HealthCare and radiology imaging diagnostic application provider Sectra are teaming up to combine their technologies.

GE HealthCare will integrate its AW Family Advanced Visualization applications with Sectra's enterprise imaging diagnostic application to build a workflow that initially focuses on cardiology using GE HealthCare's CardIQ Suite.

Part of the AW Family application portfolio, the CardIQ Suite utilises Deep Learning to automatically identify coronary artery calcifications. When used with Sectra's diagnostic application it can boost efficiency, save time, increase productivity, and reduce the workload for clinicians.

Jan Makela, CEO of Imaging at GE HealthCare said: “We designed our AW Advanced Visualization family to be an open ecosystem and enable technology integrations –this one with Sectra is a great example.”

Makela added: “This potential integration aims to increase accessibility and functionality – not only to help clinicians save time and increase productivity, but also streamlining the cardiology care pathway by easing the transition between applications – or even workstations – and reducing total number of clicks.”

While the initial focus is on cardiology, the collaboration opens the door to a potential integration of GE HealthCare's various AW Family applications across different modalities and care areas.

Torbjörn Kronander, CEO of Sectra said: “As radiology becomes increasingly specialized, the demand on radiologists intensifies and many more are experiencing burnout”.

GE HealthCare's advanced visualization tools aims to simplify daily tasks and provide radiologists with instant access to crucial diagnostic tools.

Imaging diagnostics is a huge market with the global market valued at $27.9bn in 2020 after a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.76 % between 2017 to 2020. GlobalData predicts the market to grow at a CAGR of 3.94 % between 2021 and 2025, reaching $35.4bn by 2025.