We are on the front lines of developing the 5th medical imaging modality – proton Computed Tomography (pCT). Each new modality – X-ray/CT, MRI, Ultrasound, and PET – has had a profound impact on medical care by providing improved visualization of internal anatomy and processes. pCT will do this again by providing 3D images of patient anatomy using protons. As a result, it will greatly improve the treatment of solid tumors and cardiac arrhythmias. Other new applications for proton therapy are sure to follow with the adoption of pCT.

Our mission at Proton Calibration Technologies (PCT) is to bring pCT into healthcare clinical practice. For more than 20 years the proton therapy community has sought to invent pCT. With pCT the “range uncertainty issue” of proton beam therapy (PBT) will be eliminated. As a result, proton therapy centers can begin treating with the Bragg Peak directly rather than using its penumbra.

Knowing where the Bragg Peak will “cut” in the patient will enable hypofractionation – meaning the delivery of proton therapy in fewer sessions, or fractions – each of higher dose. This will enable more patients to have access to PBT and shorten treatment time from from six to eight weeks to just one week.

Knowing precisely where the Bragg Peak will cut will also result in the switch from catheterization for cardiac ablation to proton ablation. pCT will enable cardiac ablation to become a 30-minute outpatient procedure with no anesthesia; the patient will be able to stand up and walk out the same day. It should be noted that pCT will also become an important tool in material science.