IT LOOKS like something you'd find in a sci-fi movie.

But it is the UK's first helium-free MRI scanner. And it's been installed in Poole.

Unlike its predecessors, the £1 million Ingenia Ambition X 1.5T MR does not use liquid helium to cool the machine's powerful superconducting magnet, which will save the hospital an estimated £20,000 a year in supplies of the expensive gas.

More than that, however, it will mean the hospital should not fall victim to predicted disruptions in the supply of helium which is a finite and unmanufacturable natural resource.

The new equipment should also cut scan times by around fifty per cent.

“We are very proud to be first NHS trust in the UK to offer our patients this breakthrough MR technology,” said David Reed, MRI Superintendent, Poole Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. “The Ingenia Ambition X will not only ensure high quality diagnostic care but it could also all eradicate potentially costly disruptions to service arising from loss of helium.”

“The MRI was invented in the UK, so it’s fitting that today the UK is introducing another imaging first at Poole,” said Philips UKI Health Systems Lead, Simon McGuire.

Going helium-free means that the Trust could save 1,700 litres of liquid helium, he added.