First 3D color X-ray of a Human

Using CERN technology, scientists created first 3D color X-ray of a human.

The new color X-ray imaging technique could produce clearer and more accurate pictures and help doctors give their patients more accurate diagnoses.

Above, a 3D image of a wrist with a watch showing part of the finger bones in white and soft tissue in red.  Image credit MARS Bioimaging Ltd

A New-Zealand company scanned, for the first time, a human body using a breakthrough colour medical scanner based on the Medipix3 technology developed at CERN. Father and son scientists Professors Phil and Anthony Butler from Canterbury and Otago Universities spent a decade building and refining their product.

Medipix is a family of read-out chips for particle imaging and detection. The original concept of Medipix is that it works like a camera, detecting and counting each individual particle hitting the pixels when its electronic shutter is open. This enables high-resolution, high-contrast, very reliable images, making it unique for imaging applications in particular in the medical field.

Hybrid pixel-detector technology was initially developed to address the needs of particle tracking at the Large Hadron Collider, and successive generations of Medipix chips have demonstrated over 20 years the great potential of the technology outside of high-energy physics.

source CERN