Scanning technology enables faster medical diagnosis

The system can be retrofitted to existing ultrasound platforms, but has the added ability to differentiate between tissue types, opening up areas such as cancer diagnosis.

In terms of spatial resolution, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography (CT) are the current gold standard, but are time consuming and require the use of large, expensive magnets and the injection of a contrast agent.

Ultrasound technology is more amenable, but despite recent advances cannot resolve with sufficient detail for all but the most basic applications.

A team from Oxford University’s Department of Engineering Science experimented with combinations of electromagnetic and acoustic waves to refine its technology — now being patented as Oxford Electromagnetic Acoustic Imaging (OxEMA).

‘It’s a real-time imaging system so you put a gel on patients as you do in ultrasound but you don’t have to put them through a hole as with MRI, and it’s a portable device so every GP can have it next to them,’ said Dr Rakesh Roshan of Isis Innovation, Oxford’s technology transfer unit.