The Royal Preston Hospital is to become the first in the country to offer its patients the most advanced cancer scanning technology.

The hospital is due to take delivery of a £6million PET/CT (Positron Emission Tomography/Computerised Tomography) scanner and radiopharmaceutical unit facilities next year.

It will become only the second in the world to offer such sophisticated cancer imaging technology.

The scanner uses a new technique which uses CT or 'cat' scans to create a detailed image of the organs and a PET scan for a map of cancer sites to find out how it has spread in a patient's body.

It has the capacity to take 64 simultaneous issues as the body passes through it - most UK hospitals only have scanners which can take between four and 16 images at a time.

Professor Jonathan Hill is clinical director of diagnostic imaging at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust which runs the hosptial.

He said: "The development of a PET/CT scanner with 64-slice capability and an on-site unit to produce the pharmaceutical for PET/CT scans is unheard of in this country.

"This state-of-the-art facility and technology puts Royal Preston Hospital firmly on the world map as a leading imaging centre.

"The major advances that this technology will bring cannot be underestimated.

"The CT element of the scanner acquired is a lot faster than current machines and the level of detail is the best you can get."

He added that the centre would benefit cancer patients from across the North West.

Construction has started on a building to house the new facilities and is expected to be complete by summer 2007.