Next generation body scanner launched by the University of ...( The first 'next generation' MRI (magnet...),Health

The Achieva 3T MR Scanner has been purchased by The University of Manchester and will be used by researchers to further their studies in a wide range of medical areas.

The state-of-the-art technology involved will revolutionise the way scanning takes place and means that higher quality scans can be carried out at a much faster speed than ever before. The scanner will enable researchers to create images of structures in the body such as individual vessels in the brain, nerves and cartilage.

Researchers working in the fields of cancer, stroke and mental illness will be among the first to benefit from the scanner. By studying patients, they will be able to look at the way brain tumours and cancers grow and develop and how different kinds of treatment might work.

It will also help researchers looking into strokes and will enable them to understand the way the brain recovers in stroke patients. The scanner will also benefit researchers carrying out work into mental illness and will play a major role in the University's research into schizophrenia. The scanner will help to unravel the mysteries of how the brain works and will reveal how different parts of the brain communicate with each other.

Researchers working on abnormalities in the kidneys will also benefit from the improved scanning research is currently underway at the University to investigate vascular abnormalities to the kidneys in patients with renal disease.

The scanner, which has been manufactured by Philips Medical Systems and features a 5.5 tonne magnet, will be launched by Professor Colin Blakemore, Chief Executive of the Medical Research Council and Professor Alan Gilbert, President and Vice Chancellor of The University of Manchester see EDITORS NOTES for further details.

'"/>

Contact: Jo Nightingale
jo.nightingale@manchester.ac.uk
44-161-275-8156
University of Manchester
15-Feb-2005