Wednesday 18 April 2018 10:52am
Christchurch campus' Professor Anthony Butler is thrilled GE Healthcare has donated a $1 million scanner to the University.
Global medical technology giant GE Healthcare has donated a state-of-the-art scanner worth $1 million to the University of Otago.
The donation aims to benefit not only Otago, which has a memorandum of understanding with GE Healthcare, but also the universities of Lincoln and Canterbury, which will use it in collaborative medical research studies.
The scanner will also be used in the development of the MARS colour scanner that is being developed by a team led by father and son scientists Professors Phil and Anthony Butler.
Radiologist Professor Anthony Butler, who works with both Otago and Canterbury Universities, says the donated scanner is of the highest quality and used today for clinical diagnosis in many hospitals around New Zealand.
He and his colleagues will compare the output of this scanner with the MARS scanner’s output. The Christchurch invention is expected to revolutionise medical imaging because it provides a greater level of detail about the make-up of the body.
Bob Sensig, Head CT Engineering for GE Healthcare says he believes spectral photon counting – the technology used in the MARS scanner – will revolutionise medical imaging.
“Our relationship with the MARS group is helping to illuminate the clinical potential of the technology.”
