The new device, called Xtomo-Cube, measures just 5.5 x 5.1 x 8.7 in (14 x 13 x 22 cm) – roughly the footprint of a desktop speaker – and weighs about 13 lb (6 kg). Its maker, Ruiying Detection Technology, a spinoff from the Institute of High Energy Physics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, calls it the smallest and lightest CT system ever built.

Until now, the record for the smallest portable CT scanner belonged to a unit developed by the Fraunhofer Development Center for X-ray Technology (EZRT) in Germany, weighing 42 lb (19 kg), more than three times heavier than the Xtomo-Cube.

"This is the world's smallest CT scanner," said Liu Baodong, an engineer at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Ruiying's general manager. "The device can be held in one hand, and it's the smallest and lightest CT system in the world, which is why people call it the handheld CT."