A Medical Device Daily

GE Healthcare (Waukesha, Wisconsin) and Mayo Clinic (Rochester, Minnesota) reported a program for clinical development of high-field MRI of the body.

This collaboration, announced at the 14th Annual Scientific Meeting and Exhibition of the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (Berkeley, California) in Seattle, is designed to help realize the potential of 3.0T (Tesla) MR systems as a diagnostic tool, particularly for the abdomen, heart, breast and musculoskeletal system, GE and Mayo said.

The collaboration, through the Body MRI Advanced Development Unit at Mayo Clinic, will develop and apply the most clinically viable techniques for 3T MR imaging, the highest strength magnetic field in clinical use, and allow Mayo Clinic patients to benefit from all that high field MRI technology can offer in accurately diagnosing conditions such as breast and prostate cancer, liver disease and coronary artery disease.

In other agreements news: Clearant (Los Angeles) reported that the company has entered into an agreement whereby it will have access to spinal allografts as a processor's representative to accelerate demand for tissue treated with the Clearant Process. Clearant will be the exclusive provider for this tissue processor of spinal allografts in selected U.S. markets. The first products to be released under this program will be cervical allografts used in spinal surgery.

The Clearant Process is designed to reduce all types of pathogens in the tissue allografts while maintaining a high degree of the underlying protein. Products processed with the Clearant Process can achieve, and even exceed, levels of sterility associated with medical devices, the company said.