The diagnostic machine began operating at Albury hospital last Thursday and has completed 50 scans in its first week.

Albury Wodonga Health director of oncology Craig Underhill said the scanner was “one of those once in a decade events that will make a real difference in the treatment of cancer locally”.

The scanner will help diagnose, manage and monitor lung cancer, brain tumours, ovarian and cervical cancer, bowel cancer, head and neck cancer, melanoma, lymphoma and sarcoma of the bone.