Italy has become the fourth NATO nation to select the Marshall Aerospace and Defence Group CT Scanner to provide deployed medical diagnostic facilities. The Italian Ministry of Defence has purchased the system through the NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA) framework contract for the supply of military CT scanners.
The CT scanner has been developed in partnership with Philips Healthcare and will be entering service later this year.
"Our CT Scanner system is designed to meet clinicians’ needs for the highest quality diagnostic imagery even in the most austere and harshest environments. That in itself is a challenge, but to do so in a way that can be set up and operational in less than four hours of arrival on site is a major achievement," said Alistair McPhee, Chief Executive Officer of Marshall Aerospace and Defence Group.
"The unit will give military surgeons vital CT imagery on deployed operations to quickly and accurately diagnose trauma for severely injured patients. Potentially, more lives will be saved," added Mr McPhee.
Marshall Aerospace and Defence Group is supplying a containerised solution designed to provide CT Scanning capability reliably and continuously in the most adverse environments. The system has been designed for use in the challenging conditions encountered in contemporary military operations, civil disaster and humanitarian relief missions.
Marshall has taken a whole system approach to provide a high-specification system that complies with national and international clinical and engineering standards. This can be achieved with easy and fast deployment without the need of special lifting equipment or time consuming calibration and commissioning of the CT Scanner.
The system protects the CT from extremes of shock and vibration during all modes of transport. It also maintains strict temperature and humidity limits for safe operation of the CT, even in the most extreme climatic conditions and during transportation. This has required a design with a fixed CT gantry, which provides the user with a system that is quick and simple to bring into action and able to endure the toughest of conditions.
A containerised system brings mobility, flexibility and a modular approach in a standard form suitable for all forms of transport, including air. Seven years of continuous research and development means that the Marshall CT system can guarantee the highest levels of reliability and durability.
Extensive and detailed testing has been required to deliver the confidence in the design needed to enable Philips Healthcare to endorse the total system solution. Marshall received the Queen’s Award for Enterprise 2013 in the Innovation category for its work in developing the deployable containerised CT scanner.
Marshall CT Scanners are already in service with French, Norwegian and UK defence forces.