Dementia & Imaging Centre

Edinburgh Imaging has been awarded funds to buy a MRI-PET scanner to aide dementia research. The new scanner will be based within CRIC.

This high tech scanner - the first of its kind in Scotland - will give scientists the clearest picture yet of what goes wrong in the brain when dementia occurs.

Advanced Imaging could bring new therapies

Researchers will be able to use the device to look in detail at what is going on inside patients’ brains. It will also help doctors to identify patients who are most likely to benefit from new therapies, and to monitor the effects of their treatment. The system combines Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scans with Positron Emission Tomography (PET) imaging to produce high-resolution pictures of the tissue of the brain. It will allow researchers to track the movement of individual molecules within the brain’s cells. Other organs of the body can also be studied with the device, enabling insights into diseases of the heart, blood vessels, lung and various types of cancer. We are extremely grateful to the MRC in awarding us these funds as part of the Dementias Platform UK Imaging Network.