The VU University Medical Center Amsterdam will be the first hospital in the Netherlands to have a PET/MR system. The decision to install the scanner was driven by the need for diagnostic solutions that allow clinicians to bring personalized medicine to their patients. The VU University Medical Center Amsterdam is a globally recognized center of excellence in the fields of oncology, neurology and cardiology. It has specific expertise in imaging technologies, such as PET, that use targeted radioactive tracers to produce three-dimensional images of organs such as the brain or internal lesions such as tumors.

"The VU University Medical Center Amsterdam is particularly strong in the development and clinical application of PET technology in the fields of oncology, neurology and cardiology," said Wim Stalman, Dean and Vice Chairman of the Board of the VU University Medical Center Amsterdam. "It is therefore particularly exciting to work with Philips, a true innovator in the field. I am convinced that together we will bring hybrid PET technologies such as PET/MR to the next level."

"Constant innovation in medical imaging technologies has significantly expanded the frontiers of modern healthcare," said Richard Fabian, General Manager Nuclear Medicine, Philips Healthcare. "Cancer care is an innovation focus area for Philips, in which new imaging modalities such as Philips' PET/MR system are expected to play an ever-increasing role in the diagnosis, treatment and monitoring of the disease. We look forward to our continuing collaboration with the VU University Medical Center Amsterdam to fully exploit the potential benefits of PET/MR imaging in patient care."

Philips' Ingenuity TF PET/MR system is one of the new imaging solutions that the company has recently released under the banner Imaging 2.0, an initiative designed to address the stated needs of radiologists and to raise the bar on clinical excellence through greater collaboration and integration, coupled with increased patient focus and enhanced economic value.

The Ingenuity TF PET/MR scanner combines the molecular imaging capabilities of PET with the superb soft tissue imaging capabilities of MR imaging. PET and MR have been used as separate and distinct imaging modalities for several years, with each modality requiring its own suite of rooms to house the necessary equipment. Philips was the first company in the world to successfully overcome the technical challenges involved in bringing these two modalities into close physical proximity in a whole-body scanner, so that sequential PET and MR images can be acquired in the same session. This allows very accurate overlaying of the PET and MR images so that clinicians can combine the functional and anatomical information provided by PET and MR respectively into a single fused image.

Philips has a long-standing relationship with the VU University Medical Center Amsterdam in leading-edge medical research - for example, via research organizations such as the Netherlands' Center for Translational Molecular Medicine (CTMM).

Related news articles:

• Philips Healthcare's Profile

About Royal Philips Electronics
Royal Philips Electronics of the Netherlands (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHI) is a diversified health and well-being company, focused on improving people's lives through timely innovations. As a world leader in healthcare, lifestyle and lighting, Philips integrates technologies and design into people-centric solutions, based on fundamental customer insights and the brand promise of "sense and simplicity." Headquartered in the Netherlands, Philips employs over 120,000 employees with sales and services in more than 100 countries worldwide. With sales of EUR 22.3 billion in 2010, the company is a market leader in cardiac care, acute care and home healthcare, energy efficient lighting solutions and new lighting applications, as well as lifestyle products for personal well-being and pleasure with strong leadership positions in male shaving and grooming, portable entertainment and oral healthcare.

About VU University Medical Center Amsterdam
VU University Medical Center's core business consists of patient care, scientific research, and education. Its pivotal points in care and research are cancer and immunity, the brain, movement, vital functions and extramural care. Each year 38,000 patients are admitted (including one-day admissions), well over 300,000 patients visit the Outpatients department and 40,000 arrive at the Accident and Emergency department. Approximately 2,000 medical students are in training here. Each year, VU University Medical Center produces around 2,000 scientific publications and reports based on the scientific research carried out here. This includes the results of thesis research projects being carried out by 100 PhD students.

VU University Medical Center is a member of the Dutch Federation of University Medical Centers (NFU). The NFU is a collaborative venture of the eight university medical centers (UMCs) in the Netherlands. Its overall objective is to promote the common interests of the UMCs. The other members of the NFU are the AMC (Academic Medical Center in Amsterdam), azM (University Hospital Maastricht), Erasmus MC (University Medical Center Rotterdam), LUMC (Leiden University Medical Center), UMCG (University Medical Center Groningen), UMC Utrecht (University Medical Center Utrecht) and UMC St Radboud (Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Center). A total of 60,000 staff are employed by the eight UMCs.