Pre-clinical validation complete
Numerical simulations and lab-based pre-clinical tests confirm detection of tumours as small as 3 mm in radius, even deep in tissue. Peer-reviewed publication in progress.
Proton imaging · Cancer surgery
Surgeons can now
see the tumour.
POSICS gives surgeons real-time visual guidance during cancer surgery so they can see tumoral tissue, guide removal precisely, and confirm completeness before closing.
The challengeUntil now, surgeons must still infer
Until now, surgeons must still infer
where the tumour is.
Across high-stakes professions, technology has repeatedly transformed decisions by turning what professionals had to interpret into information they can see directly. POSICS brings this same shift to the operating room.
Without POSICSIndirect signals. Acoustic beeps.
Indirect signals. Acoustic beeps.
Uncertainty.
Surgeons rely on pre-operative scans and acoustic camera feedback to estimate tumour position. At the moment of cutting and when checking completeness, there is no direct visual information. Every decision is an inference.
With POSICS
See the tumour. Guide removal. Verify completeness.
The POSICS camera is placed externally on the patient's body. The surgeon puts on AR glasses and sees a real-time overlay of tumoral tissue, directly mapped onto the surgical field. No inference. No guessing. Direct visualisation.
See tumoral tissue as you operate.
The external camera detects the radio-tracer signal and provides an immediate visual map of the tumour, directly visible through AR glasses, without interrupting the surgical act.
Know when removal is complete.
After excision, the surgeon can hold the camera over the surgical site to confirm no tumoral tissue remains. A critical check that previously depended on post-operative pathology.
Fits the way surgeons already operate.
POSICS complements existing pre-operative imaging. It doesn't replace the MRI or the CT scan, it brings that information into the surgical act, at the moment critical decisions are made.
Built on rigorous scienceBacked by Switzerland's
Backed by Switzerland's
leading institutions.
600K+
CHF in competitive grants
1–4mm
Spatial resolution in tissue
3mm
Smallest detectable tumour
TRL6
Target readiness — prototype ready
ATTRACTFONGITCampus BiotechHEPIAHUGSwiss Startups
The technology is ready.
Clinical trials are next.
Whether you are a surgeon, a hospital, or an investor, we want to hear from you.
Science & technologyFrom interpretation
From interpretation
to direct visual guidance.
POSICS provides direct visual information at the moment when critical decisions are made: during surgery itself. This page explains the system, the surgical workflow, and the validation milestones.
How it worksBuilt around the way surgeons
Built around the way surgeons
already work.
POSICS does not replace pre-operative imaging. It brings that information visually into the operating room, where it matters most.
1
Step 1Pre-operative imaging
Standard MRI, CT or PET imaging identifies tumour location. No change to existing protocols.
2
Step 2Radio-tracer injection
A tumour-specific radio-pharmaceutical tracer is administered before the operation, a standard practice in radio-guided surgery.
3
Step 3 — POSICSReal-time AR visualisation
The camera is placed externally on the body. The surgeon wears AR glasses and sees a live overlay of tumoral tissue, showing exactly where to cut and when to stop.
4
Step 4Completeness check
After excision, the camera can be used to verify the surgical site. A real-time completeness check, before wound closure.
An external camera.
It listens for the tracer's signal from outside the body and reconstructs, in real time, a visual map of the tumour. Nothing touches the surgical field.
A pair of AR glasses.
The image is laid directly over the patient, in the surgeon's own line of sight. No screen to glance at. No looking away.
One to four millimetres.
Fine enough to read a tumour's shape, its margins, the tissue around it. Lesions as small as 3 mm appear, even deep in tissue.
A few seconds per image.
Near real-time. The surgeon moves the camera and the image follows, without breaking the rhythm of the operation.
A position-sensitive SiPM.
Sub-millimetre resolution over a 3 × 3 cm active area, with only four readout channels. Compact. Light. Scalable.
Beta and low-energy gamma.
The same instrument serves the pre-operative outpatient and the operating room — one tool, many moments in the patient's path.
POSICS doesn't change how surgeons operate.
It changes what they can see while they do.
ValidationRigorous foundations. Ready for
Rigorous foundations. Ready for
clinical validation.
POSICS is not a concept. It is a working prototype backed by peer-reviewed results, competitive grants, and institutional partnerships.
Backed by the Swiss innovation ecosystem
Over CHF 600,000 in competitive grants (ATTRACT Phase 1 & 2, HEPIA). Recognition from FONGIT and Swiss Startups. HUG Prize recipient.
A multidisciplinary team
Physics, detector engineering, medical imaging, AR software development, and clinical surgery. All the disciplines needed to bring POSICS from prototype to clinical use are represented.
Clinical trials are the next milestone.
The prototype is ready. Clinical validation on human tissue is the final step before full TRL 6 readiness and hospital deployment.
About POSICSIncreasing certainty
Increasing certainty
in cancer surgery.
POSICS was born from a simple observation: surgeons operating on cancer patients are expected to achieve perfect precision, but at the critical moment of the operation, they have no direct visual information about tumour location or completeness of removal.
The project was initiated in the research group of Prof. Domenico della Volpe, through the ATTRACT Phase 1 programme. It has since grown into a full-scale prototype, supported by competitive funding and a multidisciplinary Geneva-based team.
Every year, surgeons close wounds not knowing with certainty whether they removed everything. We are building the tool that changes that.
