Transformative Technology for FLASH 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.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Apr 17, 2023
- Source ID
- 10.3390/app13085021
Entities
People
- Antoine M Snijders
- Billy W Loo
- Brahim Mustapha
- Cameron G. R. Geddes
- Carl Schroeder
- Carol Johnstone
- Emilio A. Nanni
- Emma Snively
- Eric Esarey
- François Méot
- Jeroen Van Tilborg
- Ke Sheng
- Kei Nakamura
- Lieselotte Obst-Huebl
- Maksim Kravchenko
- Reinhard Schulte
- S. Sampayan
- Salime Boucher
- Sami G. Tantawi
- Sergey Kutsaev
Organizations
- Argonne National Laboratory
- Brookhaven National Laboratory
- California Energy Commission
- Fermilab
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
- Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
- Loma Linda University
- National Institutes of Health
- SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
- Stanford University
- United States Department of Energy
- University of California