Researchers are developing ultra-high-rate FLASH radiation therapy treatment for cancer treatment

A joint team of researchers from Radiation Oncology at the Drismouth and Dartmouth-Hitchcock Cotton Cancer Center (NCCC), Dartmouth Engineering, and the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Department of Surgery has developed a method to turn a conventional serial accelerator (LINAC), on used for the delivery of radiation radiation treatment, to the conduct of ultra-high dose FLASH radiation therapy. The work, entitled “Delivering FLASH Electron at Isocenter Handling Room for Effective Reversible Conversion of Clinical LINAC,” has been published online in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology & Physics.

The extremely high dose rate is 3,000 times higher than standard treatment treatment (300 Gray per second versus 0.1 Gray per second, Gray as a standard unit measuring locked radiation). Instead of treatment over 20 seconds, complete treatment is completed in 6 milliseconds, nicknamed, “FLASH.” “These high dose levels have been shown to protect normal nappies from too much damage while still receiving the same treatment effect on tumor cigarettes, and they could be very important in limiting radiation damage in patients receiving radiation treatment, “says Brian Pogue, PhD, Co-Director of the NCCC Translational Engineering Program in Cancer Research and co-author of the project.

While the team awaits news of potential funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), early pilot funding from the NCCC and Dartmouth Thayer School of Engineering allowed for prototyping of the modified LINAC. A preclinical trial of the tumor began in August and has already provided key data on its potential for different tumor plans. “This is the first such transport in New England and on the east coast, and we believe it is the first reversible FLASH carrier on LINAC that is used clinically where the transport can be used in conventional geometry by patients on the treatment bed, ”says Pogue.

The FLASH strain is currently being used in preclinical studies on both experimental animal tumors as well as in clinical physician therapies, to examine the effects of conventional strain and how you can increase its value. The research group has expanded to include physicians in clinical radiation oncology and dermatology, designing what they hope will be the first human safety trial with FLASH radiotherapy at Dartmouth-Hitchcock, which treatment of patients with advanced skin lesions that cannot be successfully removed.