Groundbreaking proton imaging project nears completion

Work on a unique medical imaging platform that utilises proton technology has almost been completed.

Led by the University of Lincoln, the PRaVDA (Proton Radiotherapy Verification and Dosimetry Applications) project will yield the world's first device that can produce 3D images of a patient's anatomy using protons rather than X-rays.

Using the same high-energy particles that are used to destroy a tumour during proton therapy treatment, proton imaging causes less damage to healthy tissue in front of the tumour and no damage at all to the cells behind the cancerous mass.

It is expected that using protons to form an image of the patient will improve the accuracy of the treatment itself, reducing the margin for error to just a few millimetres.

Nigel Allinson,  professor of image engineering at the University of Lincoln, said: "The uncertainties in where the protons lose their energy and do damage to either tumour or healthy tissue will only be eliminated by using the same type of radiation to image and to treat."

Scientists are currently in South Africa putting together the device itself,  working near Cape Town at the South African National Cyclotron.