The Proton Center at Northeastern University in Chicago became the first proton center in the United States to be equipped with P-CURE's new P-ARTIS CT, which will be used for proton therapy in patients with lung cancer.

P-ARTIS CT, which was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in September 2016 and marketed in the United States, allows patients to take sitting CT images for proton therapy planning.

CT scans and proton therapy are usually performed while patients lie down on the treatment bed, but the sitting position is more comfortable and ensures smaller organ movement.

"This technology is the icing on the cake for our proton center. We expect that sitting imaging of lung cancer patients will help us target more accurately during proton therapy," said Dr. William Hartsell, radiation oncology specialist and medical director of the Proton Center.

Studies have shown that the absolute lung volumes collected in the sitting position are higher, so clinicians can better target tumors and protect more healthy lung tissue, says Dr Hartsell.

Hartsell and his team will use the P-ARTIS facility to perform proton therapy on patients with lung cancer, chest tumors and some head and neck tumors.

The imaging system has been on display at the past two ASTRO conferences, and the P-Cure system attracted a lot of attention from radiation oncologists at this year's meeting in Boston, Massachusetts.

"They are very excited to see our system and they are very excited to see the performance of the equipment. I think most experts are sitting on the fence, and those far-sighted proton centers have started using our equipment, and they will be the leaders in the industry.” says Michael Marsh, CEO of P-Cure.