Next-gen CT scanner could benefit One Health medicine
“It greatly enhances our ability to perform interventional procedures with increased precision and efficiency, akin to those conducted on human patients." - Dr Mark Gray.
The Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies has installed a next generation CT scanner, which could benefit both veterinary and human medicine.
The Siemens Healthineers SOMATOM X.ceed scanner, which has been compared to those used in human healthcare, has been installed for its world-leading ability to study diseases in large animals.
It is now located at the Large Animal Research and Imaging Facility (LARIF), where it delivers high-resolution images of tissues and organs. It is also the first such device to be equipped with laser guidance, which will help to direct surgical interventions such as biopsies.
The scanner has been designed for precision medicine approaches, which can be tailored to individual patients. It will support accurate delivery of drugs to diseased areas, improve understanding of disease progression and better evaluate treatment responses.
It is also expected to enhance the translation of results from animal bioscience research, where it will align imaging methods used with the precision medicine approaches employed in human medicine.
The LARIF will use the scanner to support its existing studies, in which it uses large animals as models of human disease, such as neuroscience, oncology and cardiovascular disease. This will contribute to its gene editing and gene therapy work, which could lead to innovative treatments for human disorders.
Dr Mark Gray, from the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, said: “This next-generation CT scanner enables significant improvements in image resolution compared with our previous scanning capabilities, supporting the School’s world-leading research environment.
“It greatly enhances our ability to perform interventional procedures with increased precision and efficiency, akin to those conducted on human patients.
“This major investment will significantly enhance our capacity for high-resolution CT across One Health research, supporting a wide range of interdisciplinary and translational projects.”
Image © Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies
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