3D orthopaedic imaging from a low cost, portable, low dose X-ray device

"This project will deliver a proof of concept for a ground-breaking medical imaging system for hands and feet. Fractures of these are common but the current imaging methods are unsatisfactory. Standard X-rays only give a 2D view (i.e. a shadow) of these complex 3D joints and subtle fractures or problems can be missed. CT and MRI scanners produce 3D images but are expensive, time-consuming and often immovable, and CT scans involve a relatively high radiation dose. Our proposed product will provide 3D images from a low cost, low dose, portable device. No current device on the market offers this.

Adaptix will achieve this by fundamentally changing how X-rays are made. Conventional X-ray tubes haven't changed significantly in a century whilst televisions have changed from CRT tubes to flat screens and bulbs from filaments to arrays of LEDs. Adaptix's innovative technology makes a similar technological leap for X-ray sources. Instead of a single, high-power source of X-rays, we use solid state technology to create an array of many emitters arranged in a lightweight flat panel with low power consumption. The panel illuminates the patient from a variety of angles so can use parallax information to derive 3D information (a technique called tomosynthesis), in the same way that having more than one eye gives us depth perception. This is done at a radiation dose much less than CT.

This project will take Adaptix's core technology and refine its use for imaging hands and feet. This will involve modifying the X-ray source to optimize its performance for these and elaborating requirements and designs with orthopaedic doctors. These outputs will confirm that the technology is viable and that the product will meet the market needs."