19 Mar

EXPLORER Total Body PET Scanner

EXPLORER PET/CT Scanner

EXPLORER PET-CT Scanner: A Total Body Experience

The EXPLORER Whole Body Scanner and its capabilities reminded me about the ‘Fantastic Voyage’.  The Fantastic Voyage was a 1966 American science fiction film about a submarine crew who were shrunk to a microscopic size.  Subsequently, they ventured into the human body of an injured scientist to repair damage to his brain. The synergy is the ability of the EXPLORER to track a radiopharmaceutical through the human body and locate the disease state in real time. Continue reading →

01 Mar

Advancements in Computed Tomography Scanners

computed tomography scan of the heart

CT Scanners & Their Latest Advancements

How can you determine what’s in a closed box?

This was a question proposed in 1967 when the British electrical engineer Sir Godfrey Hounsfield (1919-2004) was out walking in the countryside. Initially, this thought had nothing to do with medicine but was merely an idea that you could determine what was in a box by taking X-ray readings at all angles around the object. In order to develop the concept further, he assembled a computer to be able to obtain position points by focusing X-rays at various angles to create an image of the hidden object. Continue reading →

19 Feb

Proton Beam Therapy – A Radiotherapy Revolution

proton therapy

Targeting Tumours with Proton Beam Therapy

In Memory of Bozidar Erakovic (1928-2012)

In July 2018, Simon Hardacre was the first person in the UK to receive high energy proton beam therapy for the treatment of an aggressive form of prostate cancer at the Rutherford Cancer Centre in Newport, South Wales.  This is currently the only clinic in the UK where high energy proton beam therapy is available. Continue reading →

28 Dec

A Bright Future for Robotic Surgeons

da Vinci Surgical System

How a robot could be your next surgeon

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Cybernetics are misinterpreted concepts. However, they differ in many ways. For example, the ideas of AI is to make computers smart compared to Cybernetics which is to understand and build systems that can achieve goals. Therefore, smart computers versus goal-directed systems have developed concepts applicable to robots. Continue reading →

27 Nov

Optic Nerve Imaging in Glaucoma

Advanced eye scan of the optic nerve

Understanding Optic Nerve Imaging towards Glaucoma

The ten cranial nerves exit from the human brain including the brainstem and relay information to other parts of the body.  One of these cranial nerves is the optic nerve (II) which is 50 mm long and myelinated by oligodendrocytes.  It passes through the optic foramen in the sphenoid bone and travels to the eye.  Continue reading →

23 Nov

Advances in Medical Ultrasound Imaging

ultrasound imaging technology

The Latest Advancements in Ultrasound Technology

The National Health Service in England carried out 42.1 million imaging tests in the year to March 2017 compared with 40.7 million in the previous year.  Plain X-ray radiography was the most common with 22.9 million procedures followed by 9.37 million diagnostic ultrasound scans.  Also, computed tomography generated 4.82 million scans compared to 3.36 million magnetic resonance imaging scans. Continue reading →

20 Nov

Advancements in Brain Imaging

MR-Based Attenuation Correction in Brain PET/MR Studies: A Short Review

Exploring the Brain by Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Advancements in brain imaging using non-invasive technologies such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), magnetoencephalography (MEG) and electroencephalography (EEG) have allowed neuroscientists to obtain a greater understanding on how the brain functions with its environment.  Continue reading →

23 Apr

Types of Brachytherapy (Internal Radiotherapy)

Brachytherapy is used in the treatment of prostate cancer

Brachytherapy used to treat prostate cancer

Brachytherapy techniques have been a powerhouse in the treatment of cancer since the beginning of the twentieth century.  The advancement of other theranostic treatments has not removed Internal Radiotherapy entirely from the clinician’s armoury war in the ongoing quest to destroy cancer. Continue reading →