The quantum entanglement of light particles can now reveal exactly how much oxygen is inside a cancerous tumor.
Detecting hypoxia, or low oxygen, is critical for treating cancer because oxygen-starved tumors are much harder to kill with radiation. Current PET scans struggle to measure this accurately, but this new method uses the fundamental quantum properties of light. By measuring the entanglement degree and lifetime of photons emitted from a patient, doctors can see the exact oxygen levels in deep tissue. This level of precision allows for highly personalized treatment plans that target the most resistant parts of a tumor. It uses the physics of the subatomic world to solve one of the biggest challenges in modern oncology.
Quantum Entanglement Degree, Mean Positronium Lifetime, and the 3γ/2γ Annihilation-Rate Ratio as Novel PET Biomarkers for Hypoxia
arXiv · 2605.00021
This manuscript introduces a novel method to assess tissue oxygen concentration via the quantum entanglement (QE) of photons originating from positronium which is produced within the patient's body during positron emission tomography. We also investigate the possibility of assessing hypoxia by simultaneously detecting positronium lifetime and the positronium decay rate ratio.We introduce two distinct quantum sensing approaches. Method 1 utilizes the correlation between oxygen concentration and o