The ability to detect breast cancer has been boosted with new hi-tech 3D unit and what could be the island’s first automated breast ultrasound unit.

The machines will be installed at the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital this month.

A hospital spokeswoman said the old mammography machine would be removed and the mammography and biopsy services would be suspended while the switchover is carried out.

Daniel Stovell, the hospital’s chief of diagnostic imaging, said the Pristina 3D mammography unit and the Ivenia Automatic Breast Ultrasound System, made by electronics firm GE, marked a “significant improvement in service”.

He added: “The technologies produce clearer images which have a host of medical benefits, one of the most important of which is that it improves our ability to detect cancer.”

Renée Butterfield, the clinical manager, said staff were keen to start using the new technology.

Research has shown that more cancers are found, with fewer false positives, by 3D mammography.

The ultrasound device is also better able to detect breast cancers in dense tissue, which can be missed one-third of the time with mammograms.