1. Transformative Technology for FLASH Radiation Therapy.
- Author
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Schulte, Reinhard, Johnstone, Carol, Boucher, Salime, Esarey, Eric, Geddes, Cameron, Kravchenko, Maksim, Kutsaev, Sergey, Loo, Billy, Méot, François, Mustapha, Brahim, Nakamura, Kei, Nanni, Emilio, Sheng, Ke, Snijders, Antoine, Snively, Emma, Tantawi, Sami, Van Tilborg, Jeroen, Sampayan, Stephen, Schroeder, Carl, and Obst-Huebl, Lieselotte
- Subjects
FLASH effect ,particle accelerators ,radiation therapy - Abstract
The general concept of radiation therapy used in conventional cancer treatment is to increase the therapeutic index by creating a physical dose differential between tumors and normal tissues through precision dose targeting, image guidance, and radiation beams that deliver a radiation dose with high conformality, e.g., protons and ions. However, the treatment and cure are still limited by normal tissue radiation toxicity, with the corresponding side effects. A fundamentally different paradigm for increasing the therapeutic index of radiation therapy has emerged recently, supported by preclinical research, and based on the FLASH radiation effect. FLASH radiation therapy (FLASH-RT) is an ultra-high-dose-rate delivery of a therapeutic radiation dose within a fraction of a second. Experimental studies have shown that normal tissues seem to be universally spared at these high dose rates, whereas tumors are not. While dose delivery conditions to achieve a FLASH effect are not yet fully characterized, it is currently estimated that doses delivered in less than 200 ms produce normal-tissue-sparing effects, yet effectively kill tumor cells. Despite a great opportunity, there are many technical challenges for the accelerator community to create the required dose rates with novel compact accelerators to ensure the safe delivery of FLASH radiation beams.
- Published
- 2023