The Monash Medical Centre has a new life-saving machine. The new laboratory at the Melbourne hospital boasts of having the first 3-D imaging lab in Australia.

The laboratory was officially opened on Thursday, and which aims to enable doctors to produce three dimensional images from patient scans. This will allow surgeon to quickly diagnose health problems of patients by zooming in on their organs, tumours, or bones from different angles.

The deputy of director of diagnostic imaging, associate professor Ronnie Ptasznik, has set up the lab after consulting with other clinics with similar facilities overseas.

"We move away from the bad old days when the patient was opened up and then had to wake up and be told they were inoperable and still had to recover from the surgery," Mr Ptasznik said on Thursday's launch of the laboratory.

"It's truly life-changing medical therapy."

Victorian Health Minister David Davis congratulated Ptasznik as well for the development.

"Victorian hospitals have long led the way in embracing innovation and technology to get the best results for patients, long before the rest of Australia signs up," the minister said, adding that the 3-D imaging technology can be of valuable service to the growing and ageing population of Victoria that needs medical radiations.

According to Fairfax Media, although the lab's official launch was on Thursday, the laboratory has already helped one man's life last month.

53-year-old Simon Kelly was rushed to the emergency department of the centre because of his brain aneurysm. Doctors needed to identify the source of the blood around the surface of his brain fast.

Neuroradiologist Ronil Chandra said they took Mr Kelly's CT scan and used 3-D imaging to "cut away the skull and identify all the blood vessel to find the problem."

Dr Chandra was able to close off the aneurysm, thanks to the detailed imaging that allowed him to quickly pinpoint the problem, and therefore saving Mr Kelly's life. The patient was discharged from the hospital Wednesday.