World-First mobile CT for regional healthcare

An Australian X-ray technology company developing a world-first full-body mobile CT following the award of an up to US$16.4m (A$25m) development contract from the US Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H).

The 5-year contract for ASX-listed Micro-X to develop a lightweight and portable full body CT comes under the US Government agency’s Platform Accelerating Rural Access to Distributed and Integrated Medical Care (PARADIGM) program. PARADIGM aims to address the current challenges in accessing rural health, by creating a scalable vehicle-based platform that provides advanced medical services out of hospital.

Micro-X CEO, Kingsley Hall, commented “Micro-X continues to go beyond boundaries to challenge the constraints of legacy X-ray and deliver solutions that meet the needs of customers, users and patients.”

Conventional CT holds the largest share (approximately 30%) of the global medical imaging market and is the current medical imaging standard for a wide range of diagnoses including cardiac imaging, trauma diagnosis, cancer screening, and lung screening.

Using Micro-X’s small but powerful Nano Electronic X-ray (NEX) Technology X-ray tubes, the company aims to deliver a full body CT weighing just 225 kg, compared to conventional CTs that weigh more than 2000 kg. This technology has previously been advanced through Micro-X development contracts awarded by the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Australian Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF).

Micro-X’s CEO US and Chief Scientific Officer US Brian Gonzales said “ARPA-H’s vision for the PARADIGM Program is closely aligned with Micro-X’s vision to create revolutionary X-ray imaging to better lives. We are extending hospital grade imaging beyond the boundaries of conventional hospitals to bring a vehicle mounted Full Body CT solution to rural communities.”

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