Philips to Take Orders for the Ingenia MRI System in the United States

ANDOVER, Mass., April 6, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — Royal
Philips Electronics (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHI) today announced the
United States availability of the Ingenia MRI system, the
first-ever digital broadband magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
solution. Previously available in Europe, Canada and Japan, the
system has received 510(k) clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration. Driven by Philips commitment to developing
innovative patient care solutions, Ingenia MRI delivers exceptional
image clarity, scanning efficiency and scalability designed to
advance diagnosis and radiology workflow.

In order to visualize detailed structures within the human body,
MRI orchestrates the application of radio frequency (RF), audio
frequency and static magnetic fields, the strength of which is
measured in Tesla (T) units. Clinicians have long relied on MRI for
its exceptional ability to differentiate various soft tissues.
Until now, all MRI systems have utilized analog components for the
signal acquisition and processing needed to generate patient
images. However, the use of analog components during these
processes has limited the upper reaches of image clarity and
quality.

The Ingenia system introduces, for the first time in MRI,
digital signal acquisition and processing directly at the patient.
By digitizing the signal directly in the RF receive coil nearest to
the patient and transferring and processing the signal in digital
form throughout the imaging chain, Ingenia is able to generate up
to a 40 percent improvement in signal-to-noise ratio compared to
previous generation systems*. This digital signal acquisition and
processing facilitates the delivery of crisp image clarity to help
clinicians make informed decisions for a wide range of clinical
procedures, including traditional applications like neuro and
musculoskeletal and fast-growing applications like body and
cardiac. Ingenia’s digital capabilities also overcome the RF
channel scalability limitations

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