It has been hailed as the new x-ray "miracle" - a three-dimensional scanner that strips away skin and muscle tissue to reveal the workings of vital organs, blood vessels and bones. Taking pictures only half a millimetre wide, the 64 Multislice CT scanner, as the Japanese-built machine is known, penetrates the human body layer by layer to build up a complete 3D anatomical image in as little as 11 seconds.

Unlike other scanners, it can be used on every part of the body.

Radiologists at the Conquest hospital in Hastings, east Sussex, where the NHS has acquired its first machine at a cost of £500,000, say it is already speeding up chest scans, as patients no longer have to hold their breath for so long during the procedure.

"It's better because we have a lot more information and can look from front to back, side to side and from top to bottom without loss of resolution," said Chris Brandt, superintendent radiographer at the Conquest.

With up to 50% more x-rays being carried out each day, managers predict it will also reduce waiting times for hospital beds.

The x-rays still expose patients to radiation - in some cases the doses are higher than with standard CT scans - but patients undergo less trauma as the time needed to take the scan is so much shorter.

When a person's head is scanned, the device first of all peels away facial tissue to reveal the structure of muscles and nerves. As the scanner penetrates deeper, it exposes blood vessels, then bones and the skull.

The images are so precise they can pinpoint the build up of calcium in an artery.

The machine is so new that there are only four in Europe, including the one at the Conquest. Other NHS hospitals have ordered them and the next is due to arrive at Colchester hospital, Essex, soon.