The deputy dean of the faculty of health science, at the University of Cape Town (UCT), has been awarded a Technology and Human Resources for Industry Programme award for his pioneering work in digital imaging of medical conditions.
Kit Vaughan and his research team developed a low-dose X-ray system, which uses slot scanning X-ray technology to create high-resolution images.
"The technology can image fine detail and detect changes in airway diameter, which could indicate TB or HIV," says Neeran Naidoo, communications manager for the UCT health sciences faculty. "This can speed up diagnosis and treatment."
Naidoo says the technology is already being used at the Red Cross Hospital in the Cape, where data sets on the X-rays are being gathered with the aim to automatically outline the airways.
The technology is patented and is being marketed in the US, Middle East, Europe and Africa through South African SME Lodox Technology.
Another use of the technology is in conducting mammograms, where image quality can be improved without the usual painful compression associated with the procedure.
Three-dimensional imaging technology is in the process of being developed for use with the new X-ray machine.
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