Scientists from the Universities of Canterbury and Otago have performed the first-ever, 3D color X-ray on a human body using the MARS spectral X-ray scanner – a revolutionary colour medical scanner based on Medipix3.

Medipix3 is the most advanced chip available today for particle imaging and detection. It was originally developed for the Large Hadron Collider at the CERN physics lab. Medipix3 works like camera, and it can catch and count every single particle hitting the pixels when its shutter is open. Thus, it can produce high-resolution images, making it perfect for wide range of imaging applications, and more particularly in the medical field.

3D color x-ray of a wrist showing part of the finger bones in white and soft tissue in red.

Medipix3 enables MARS spectral scanner to measure different energy levels of the X-ray photons to produce high-resolution colored images instead of black and white ones. It also allows the scanner to identify different components of body parts such as fat, water, calcium, and disease markers.

MARS Bioimaging Ltd is a company commercialising the 3D scanner.  It has worked with more than 20 research institutes to form the third generation of the Medipix collaboration.

Source: CERN

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