First patients benefit from cutting-edge UK scanner to transform drug discovery and diagnose serious illnesses earlier

A new total-body PET scanner that is quicker for the patient and produces higher quality images for faster and earlier diagnosis and treatment of illnesses like cancer and heart conditions, was unveiled by Ministers in London yesterday (Wednesday 27 November).

The new scanner, one of three becoming operational in the UK, is up to 40 times more sensitive and up to 10 times faster than existing machines, meaning quicker diagnoses and a more detailed reading of the patient's whole body. It will also give researchers unparalleled insights into human biology that ultimately leads to better healthcare.

The first of several patients to use the new total body PET scanner at St Thomas’ Hospital in the past month was Sarah Corfield, who has stage 4 melanoma and has been receiving regular PET scans as a patient at Guy’s and St Thomas’ as part of the diagnoses and treatment for her condition.

Sarah Corfield said: “I’ve had so many PET scans, so I’m very used to the experience. Previously, the scans would take 30 minutes, the bed was very hard and the scanning table would move in and out, capturing the different images. It could be quite noisy, too.

“The new scanner was a good experience – it felt very open, and not at all claustrophobic. It was much quicker – I was done in 15 minutes, and they told me the images were much higher quality.

“It was very smooth. I just lay there, like on a sun lounger, thinking of my little dog Maggie. It was very smooth, and much quieter.”

The scanner will feed findings into the new National PET Imaging Platform (NPIP). NPIP will build a bank of data from patients across the UK to improve diagnosis and aid researchers’ understanding of diseases, which can support the development of new medicines.

Positron emission tomography (PET) scanning is an effective, non-invasive imaging technique that can detect diseases earlier in their development, supporting faster diagnosis. PET scanners work by detecting the radiation given off by a substance injected into a patient’s arm, called a radiotracer, as it collects in the body. By analysing the areas where the radiotracer does and does not build up, medics can work out how certain body functions are working.

The new total-body scanners work at greater speed to scan the whole body without the need for a patient to be repositioned multiple times which, together with exposing patients to significantly less radiation, means more people, including children, can access the power of total-body PET.

The scanners have the potential to scan 50% more patients per day than standard PET scanners, and can reveal subtle, early signs of multiple types of cancer as well as neurological, cardiovascular and musculoskeletal conditions.

The new total-body PET scanner, co-managed by King’s College London and Imperial College London at St Thomas’ Hospital, London, is the Platform’s first Government-funded system to become operational and was officially unveiled yesterday by Science and Technology Secretary, Peter Kyle, and Health Secretary, Wes Streeting. Another machine will launch in Edinburgh in the coming months.

Science and Technology Secretary, Peter Kyle, said:

“Cutting-edge scanners like these and the intelligence they provide can help UK patients live longer, healthier lives while easing the pressure on our NHS.

“Ultimately, these kinds of medical advancements will quite literally save lives - through earlier detection, faster diagnoses and more effective treatment in complex illnesses like cancer, dementia and heart disease.

“Ensuring our world-leading researchers have access to the most advanced technology is key to them unlocking the next medical breakthroughs, in turn improving the lives of people across the UK and beyond, while also growing our economy.”

Health and Social Care Secretary, Wes Streeting, said:   

“St Thomas’ Hospital’s new state-of-the-art scanner is an example of the government funded innovative technology we want all patients to have access to for their NHS care.   

“This scanner can diagnose conditions quicker and provide more personalised care for patients.

“Through our 10 Year Health Plan we will ensure that the NHS is made fit for the future, shifting the focus from analogue to digital, hospital to community and sickness to prevention, so that we can all receive care that is timely and effective.”

NPIP is operated by the UK’s Medicines Discovery Catapult, in partnership with the Medical Research Council and Innovate UK and funded through a £32m investment from the UKRI Infrastructure Fund.

NPIP’s first two total-body PET scanners will work to demonstrate the infrastructure as a cost-effective means to support healthcare in the UK, in clinical research and in accelerating the detection, diagnosis and treatment of disease. A third scanner installed at the Royal Free Hospital in London is not funded by UKRI but is part of the platform and contributes towards the connection of insights from research programmes.

Professor Chris Molloy, CEO of Medicines Discovery Catapult, said:

“We are delighted to see this new scanner operational so that more patients, researchers and industry partners can benefit from this cutting-edge technology. As a new asset in our game-changing national platform, it will provide vital insights into disease biology, improving its detection, diagnosis and future treatment.

“By providing even more insightful data, NPIP enables new collaborations across the clinical and industrial research communities who, together with Medicines Discovery Catapult, reshape drug discovery and development for patient benefit.”

Ottoline Leyser, Chief Executive of UKRI, said:

“Our infrastructure fund invests in the facilities and equipment essential for researchers and innovators across the UK to make the discoveries that improve lives and livelihoods for everyone. The National PET Imaging Platform is a great example.

“A network of total-body PET scanners across the UK will radically improve the speed, comfort, and accuracy of scanning for patients, helping to reduce waiting times.

“Additionally, by involving patients in clinical research projects, and combining the data from across the UK, we will gain invaluable insight into many life-limiting illnesses, including cancer and Alzheimer’s disease and support the development of novel therapeutics.”

Read the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology’s press release >