THE OXFORD firm behind a device which diagnoses liver disease, is moving to bigger offices in the city.

Perspectus Diagnostics has more than tripled its staff and opened two centres in the USA over the past two years.

The firm’s LiverMultiScan software measures the amount of fat, iron, fibrosis and inflammation in the liver.

It can be used instead of invasive procedures such as biopsies, saving money and discomfort.

Perspectum, which started as a spin-out from Oxford University, recently won grants totalling £3.87m, helped by advisors from charitable foundation Oxford Innovation.

The LiverMultiScan device is already in 12 USA military hospitals and is being considered by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) for use in NHS hospitals.

In September, a paper in the British Medical Journal reported it could save £500 per patient.

Perspectum Diagnostics co-founder and chief executive Dr Rajarshi Banerjee described NICE’s decision to consider LiverMultiScan for use in the NHS as 'very significant'.

Dr Banerjee, a medical consultant at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, added: “We hope that if a patient is suspected to have liver disease, they will be diagnosed within minutes, without the need for a painful and costly biopsy.

“This is an innovative way to improve care and spend less.”

Perspectum has been working out of serviced offices at the Oxford Centre for Innovation in New Road, run by Oxford Innovation, since 2013.

The firm’s 40 employees will move to their new 8,000 square feet office at Beaver House in Hythe Bridge Street next month, under a two-year lease.

Among those benefitting from the company’s technology is 26-year-old gas surveyor Dan Eadle, from Cumnor.

Mr Eadle was diagnosed with rare liver disease Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis when he was 19.

He started being scanned as part of patient trials by Dr Banerjee shortly after being diagnosed and has needed only one biopsy since.

Without LiverMultiScan, Mr Eadle believes he would be having one or two biopsies a year.

He said: “Having the scan is a lot easier than being cut, stabbed and poked around.

“With a biopsy, they numb the area where they are going to cut and use an ultrasound guide to find the bit they are going to take and rip a piece off it.

“You get at least four-to-five hours’ of throbbing pain afterwards.”

Perspectum Diagnostics is also working with a software company in Poland to diagnose liver disease in children.

Dr Banerjee said: “Through being based at Oxford Centre for Innovation, we were automatically surrounded by other technology and medical organisations as the set-up appeals to people in similar industries.

“When we first moved there we were at an early phase of innovation but have been able to grow within the centre avoiding costly overheads and are now ready to graduate into our own offices.”