University Hospitals Cleveland, Siemens Healthineers Announce 10-Year Strategic Alliance

University Hospitals (UH) and Siemens Healthineers announced a 10-year strategic alliance that will support UH’s focus on improving oncology, cardiovascular, and neurovascular care for patients in Ohio. Siemens Healthineers and UH will look to also advance the treatment of patients with Alzheimer’s disease and use theranostics—combining the approaches of diagnostics and therapeutics—to treat patients with advanced forms of certain cancers, as well as develop new magnetic resonance (MR) technologies.

“University Hospitals shares its excitement in expanding its ongoing collaborative relationship with Siemens Healthineers, which has resulted in important improvements in magnetic resonance imaging. We now anticipate the growing benefits from extending the latest technology innovation to our northern Ohio community,” said Paul Hinchey, MD, MBA, chief operating officer, University Hospitals. 

“Siemens Healthineers is proud to build on its decades-long relationship with University Hospitals through this new strategic alliance, which will not only dramatically impact patients facing serious medical conditions in Ohio, but also explore and define new ways to improve patient health,” said David Pacitti, president and head of the Americas at Siemens Healthineers.

The strategic alliance complements the research collaboration between Siemens Healthineers and the department of radiology at UH as well as a key academic affiliate, Case Western Reserve University, to develop novel technologies, with an emphasis on MR. Past research has included MR fingerprinting, a technique that helps clinicians make decisions based on digital tissue data rather than visual impressions.

New research will partially involve the company’s 0.55T mid-field scanner that requires less than one liter of helium.

For neurology-related care, especially Alzheimer’s disease, UH Radiology will purchase positron emission tomography (PET)/CT scanners as well as a comprehensive portfolio of MR scanners, including 1.5-tesla and 3T scanners. The PET/CT scanners will help UH confirm the presence of amyloid plaques in patients suspected of having Alzheimer’s disease and the MR scanners will enable UH to monitor their treatment with emerging therapeutic drugs. On its main campus, UH will install an angiography system with particular benefits in interventional neuro procedures and stroke treatment.

The alliance will also facilitate UH deploying CT scanners at UH’s flagship Cleveland Medical Center and PET/CT scanners for cancer care at UH Seidman Cancer Center. PET/CT technology provides the tools to identify disease, thereby allowing clinicians to tailor detection and disease stratification, as well as therapy. Separately, Varian, a Siemens Healthineers company, will provide linear accelerators. The PET/CT scanners will support the practice of theranostics, which enables clinicians to diagnose some forms of cancer with one radiopharmaceutical and treat the disease with a similar therapeutic agent. UH hosts a radiopharmacy operated by PETNET Solutions Inc, A Siemens Healthineers Company, and was an early adopter of a radiopharmaceutical used in theranostics to detect advanced prostate cancer. The placement of Siemens Healthineers CT scanners at UH Cleveland Medical Center, and angiography systems for interventional radiology will enable efficient diagnosis and focused treatment by targeted ablations and delivery of therapy agents. This alliance will help UH expand patient access and transform cancer care from discovery to recovery.

The new alliance will also enhance cardiovascular services of the UH Harrington Heart & Vascular Institute with the world’s first clinically available photon-counting CT scanner and the new dual-source CT scanner. It builds on a 2019 agreement that provided UH with CT, MR, and hybrid operating room technology for its Center for Advanced Heart & Vascular Care. This was one of the first healthcare facilities to co-locate an MR scanner, CT scanner, and robotically operated cardiac catheterization laboratory with surgical capabilities in the same suite. Under the terms of the strategic alliance, UH will also acquire angiography systems that provide clear image quality and ultra-low patient radiation doses for image-guided cardiology interventions.