The scanners will cut down travelling time for patients

Until now, patients have had to travel to London to use similar scanners.

But Welsh Assembly Government funding has paid for two of the sophisticated machines which can detect tiny tumours.

They will be based at the University of Wales Hospital, Cardiff. One of the scanners will treat patients and the other will be used for research.

The Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scanners are so powerful, they can monitor the functioning of tiny tumours only 2mm in size.

Andrew Davies, Welsh economic development and transport minister, and Brian Gibbons, Welsh health minister, announced that the new scanners had been acquired on Monday.

Positron Emission Tomography is a powerful imaging technique used to identify a range of diseases such as cancers, heart disease, and brain disorders.

The scanners - which are believed to cost around �6m for the pair - will be based at a purpose-built unit at Wales' largest teaching hospital and will produce detailed and accurate images for both clinical staff and researchers.

'Research opportunities'

Mr Davies said the investment would also help in creating more jobs in bio-medical research.

He added: "This substantial investment is a major step forward in the development of Wales as a centre of excellence for bio-medical research.

"Such a state-of-the-art facility supports the extensive work already carried out across Wales, including the Brain Imaging and Repair Centre at Cardiff University, the work at the Wales Gene Park, the world-leading Institute of Life Science at Swansea, and the excellent psychological and medical work at Bangor University."

Dr Gibbons added: "This investment will provide significant benefits for patients in Wales, as well as boosting our capacity for cutting-edge medical research.

"PET scanning provides important additional biological information in addition to traditional images.

"It can be of significant advantage in improving diagnosis and will also help towards ensuring patients receive the most appropriate treatment.

"In some cases, the scanner will show that surgery is not necessary and that a different treatment or procedure would be better."