Radar has health benefit

A radar created to find sunken treasure can also be used to detect breast cancer. The atomic dieletric resistance (ADR) scanner, which sends short pulses of radio waves into the body, has been used to scan 36 patients at Edinburgh's Western General hospital.

By analysing how the pulses are reflected, medical experts are able to work out the nature of the substance reflecting them. The tests, which have already been completed, are being analysed. Colin and Graham Stove accidentally discovered the medical application of ADR. ''We had been doing research into scanning under the sea, working with the oil and gas industries,'' said Dr Gordon Stove. "When doing underwater tests with divers we realised that, on the images coming back, we could actually see their bodies. Tests in the laboratory showed we could pick out different organs such as the lungs and the heart.'' Dr Stove believes the ADR is safer, faster and more effective than conventional x-ray screening. It produces three-dimensional images that help pinpoint the exact position of diseased tissue before surgery or radiotherapy and helps medical staff to be more exact in establishing the progress of the disease.