Professor Daniel McGowan, head of education and research in the Department of Medical Physics and Clinical Engineering at Oxford University Hospitals (OUH), will lead the Oxford part of the EU-funded COMPASS project, a five-year collaboration involving more than 60 partners across 25 countries.

Backed by the EU’s Innovative Health Initiative and supported by GE HealthCare, the consortium is exploring how PET scans, commonly used to monitor cancer, could also be adapted to assess heart health.

Professor McGowan, who is also based at the University of Oxford’s Department of Oncology, said: “The aim is that when a person has a PET scan to check on their cancer, we could effectively give them a free heart check at the same time.

“With this additional information, we can stratify patients into those who need to see a cardiologist fairly urgently, those who we’d like to monitor, and those whose hearts are healthy.”

The COMPASS project is focused on improving early detection of heart problems in cancer patients and survivors using advanced medical imaging and digital technology.

Some forms of chemotherapy are known to increase the risk of heart damage, and with cancer survival rates improving, long-term cardiovascular monitoring is becoming increasingly important.

Professor McGowan said that by using PET scans to screen for heart issues, many patients could avoid undergoing separate echocardiograms or other cardiac imaging.

He said this would reduce the time and stress often associated with additional testing.

A PET (positron emission tomography) scan uses a small amount of radioactive tracer to highlight areas of high metabolic activity, helping doctors monitor cancer progression or treatment response.

The technology could also reveal early signs of heart damage, potentially transforming follow-up care for cancer patients.

The Oxford team’s involvement builds on existing research, including work with research scientist Zoe Wilson, who is completing her doctorate at the university’s Department of Oncology, and collaborations with colleagues in Cardiff.

The more than €50 million COMPASS programme includes access to data from hospitals across Belgium, the Netherlands, and Portugal.

This broad dataset is expected to support the development of AI and machine learning tools to identify patients most at risk of heart problems.

Professor McGowan said: “This dedicated funding will enable us to expand and accelerate our efforts in this field, which should speed up the translation of our research work into clinical care, and ultimately get the benefit to patients quicker.”

Approximately €399,000 (£347,000) of the funding will be allocated to OUH, supporting its work within the international project.

In a statement, Gloucestershire Constabulary said they were appealing for witnesses after emergency services were called to the A429 Fosseway in Stow-on-the-Wold at around 4:15pm yesterday (Saturday, April 25) with a report of a ‘serious’ two vehicle collision.

Information can be submitted to police by completing the following online form and quoting incident 314 of 25 April: https://orlo.uk/f8uNx.

MORE: Several crews fight inferno at RAF Fairford

The collision took place near to Old Quarry Farm, and involved a silver Triumph Trident motorbike and blue Volkswagen Polo.

The rider of the motorbike, a man in his 20s, was airlifted to University Hospital Coventary for treatment to serious injuries.

He remains there at this time.

Several road closures were put in place and reopened during the early hours of this morning (April 26).

Investigating officers are now appealing for anyone who witnessed the collision, or has any relevant CCTV or dashcam footage to get in contact.

Passengers on the upper deck had to walk along a low passage before climbing into their seats, while those on the right of the lower deck had to be careful not to bang their heads on the low ceiling.

Many buses were too high to pass under the bridge, and the bus company had to invest in the low-line vehicles to keep services going.

Sometimes, though, things went wrong and buses came to grief.

The picture above dates from 1977 when a Midland Red bus, on contract in Oxford, was returning to the bus garage in Cowley Road after taking workers from the atomic energy plant at Harwell to Stanford-in-the-Vale, near Wantage.

Thankfully, it was empty, apart from driver Barry Pugh, 33, who said: “At first, I thought something had fallen on top of the bus, then I realised the top was being torn off like a sardine can.

“I only travel this route now and again and I hadn’t been told the bus was too tall to get under the bridge.”

At that time, it was believed that the bridge had claimed at least 13 bus roofs since 1950.

The Midland Red bus was 14ft 4in high while the bridge had headroom of only 13ft 3in.

Clifford Fletcher, assistant traffic manager of Oxford South Midland bus company, said: “This is not the sort of incident we like to happen. The bridge is a pain in the neck and is a considerable restriction to us when it comes to planning.”

The crash left wreckage in the road and caused long tailbacks in both directions as traffic was reduced to a one-way crawl under the bridge. Repairs to the bus were estimated at £1,500.

The advertisement on the side of the bus from the Cleansing Service Group was particularly appropriate – ‘Where there’s muck – there’s us!’

There was certainly plenty of debris left in the road after this crash.

The lower picture shows a bus which had its roof completely sliced off by the bridge in 1967.

This bus crashed into the Botley Road rail bridge in 1967 (Image: Oxford Mail)

Notices were posted in bus cabs warning drivers not to use the route. Warning horns and illuminated signs – described as the ‘magic eye plan’ by the Oxford Mail – were put on the bridge.

Later, the road was lowered to prevent further accidents.

Hopefully, there will be plenty of room, height and clearance for buses when the reconstructed bridge and road finally open after the three-year closure to traffic in the summer!

Network Rail contractors Kier installed the new bridge in February and the Botley Road is expected to reopen to traffic at the end of August.