Within the cracked walls of the decaying Metropolitan Infectious Diseases Hospital’s old kitchen, a unique piece of medical equipment and Australian history stands – the whole body monitor scanner.
The workers at the atomic weapon testing range, Maralinga, built the whole body monitor scanner. It is one of only two in the southern hemisphere (the other being in New South Wales), and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) carefully monitors its whereabouts. The scanner is made from the armour plate of a World War 1 battleship and is extremely heavy, so a crane is required to move it.
In 2011, the monitor made its way to Hampstead Rehabilitation Centre. But before that, children flown out from Chernobyl used it to have their radiation levels tested after the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant disaster.
How does it work?
The scanner’s primary function is to detect the spread of disease that standard methods might miss. The information from the scan then acts as valuable guidance for radiologists and surgeons considering surgery.
The most common use of the machine is bone scanning. For this, isotope fluorine-18 is used. Doctors administer it intravenously to the patient about two hours before the scan. The scanner allows for continuous visual and audio monitoring while in use, through a storage oscilloscope and speaker. The machine also keeps a permanent record of both the anterior and posterior aspects of the patient.
A complete scan takes 40 to 50 minutes, and the patient experiences no discomfort or significant inconvenience, except for needing to lie still during the process.
Its Significance
Though the scanner has not been used for many years, having been used only four times in 2000, and its electronics are outdated, its value lies in the World War 1 battleship armour plate. The material was manufactured before the routine addition of cobalt to the smelting process and the pre-atomic bomb era, so the steel is pure and uncontaminated. Cobalt, which naturally decays radioactively, creates ‘background noise’ for sensitive scans like the whole body monitor scanner, which affects the scan readings.
The remaining parts of the scanner, such as the detectors, still operate and can easily be recommissioned with parts from the EPA radiation laboratory.
You can check out the scanner yourself by attending a guided tour of Hampstead Rehabilitation Centre’s abandoned buildings during this History Festival.
Written by Anna Grigoriev, CALHN Health Museum