First 3D colour X-ray of a human using CERN technology

Return to eHealthNews.nz home page

A company based in New Zealand has scanned the human body with a colour medical scanner for the first time.

The scanner utilised the Medipix3 technology that was developed at CERN by father and son scientists, professors Phil Butler from Canterbury University and Anthony Butler Otago University. The pair spent a decade going from initial building to a working final product.

Medipix are a group of particle imaging and detection chips which work in the same way as a camera. They detect and count each and every individual particle hitting the detector and depending on how many x-rays hit a certain area, a different colour will be assigned.

It was originally built for the Large Hadron Collider at CERN to track particles but the latest versions of the Medipix chips have since been seen to offer potential in applications outside of high-energy physics.

A 3D scanner that utilises the Medipix3 chips will be commercialised by MARS Bioimaging Ltd.

Professor Phil Butler says “this technology sets the machine apart diagnostically because its small pixels and accurate energy resolution mean that this new imaging tool is able to get images that no other imaging tool can achieve.”

A combination of a strong algorithm and the Medipix3 detector allows 3D images of the object in question to be taken in incredible detail. Different tissues, which consist of fat and water, among other things, can be imaged and identified by the energy of the x-rays from these different parts.

Lately, MARS has been using smaller versions of the scanner to study vascular diseases that cause heart attacks and also cancer related health.

“In all of these studies, promising early results suggest that when spectral imaging is routinely used in clinics it will enable more accurate diagnosis and personalisation of treatment,” says Butler.

CERN’s Knowledge Transfer Group are all about getting CERN technology out there for applications outside of high-energy physics, in particular, medical applications.

CERN knowledge transfer officer Aurélie Pezous says, “It is always satisfying to see our work leveraging benefits for patients around the world. Real-life applications such as this one fuels our efforts to reach even further.”

The future is looking very bright for the Medipix detector. Scientists hope that within the next few months, orthopaedic and rheumatology patients in New Zealand will be scanned in this colourful way for the first time ever.

Sources: Cern media release and Forbes article, 1 August 2018

Sector updates are provided by organisations to eHealthNews.nz and have not necessarily been edited or checked for accuracy. Any queries should be directed to the organisation issuing the release. 

Do you have an item to add to sector updates?

Email your information to us at updates@hinz.org.nz

Return to eHealthNews.nz home page