{"id":412,"date":"2025-10-08T14:02:43","date_gmt":"2025-10-08T14:02:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress.sciencepicker.com\/?p=412"},"modified":"2025-10-08T14:02:43","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T14:02:43","slug":"futuristic-flash-radiation-therapy-could-treat-cancer-in-milliseconds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.science-pickers.com\/futuristic-flash-radiation-therapy-could-treat-cancer-in-milliseconds\/","title":{"rendered":"Futuristic flash radiation therapy could treat cancer in milliseconds"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

New research suggests that specialized systems, sometimes,\ncould defend cancer in patients\nwith particles to deliver a full course of\nflash radiation therapy in mere microseconds.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By accepting an emerging technology known as Flash Radiotherapy, doctors could now\nabolish tumors just in a few milliseconds and at a fraction of the cost of\ncommon radiation therapy at least in theory. As of yet,\nthe lightning-fast procedure has not faced legal clinical trials in human\npatients, although one man experienced the experimental treatment, researchers\nreported in October 2019 in the journal Radiotherapy and Oncology. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, a new rat study, published Jan. 9 in the\u00a0International Journal of Radiation Oncology, <\/strong>Biology and Physics, has more explained the promise of this cancer<\/strong> therapy<\/strong>. Co-author Dr. Keith Cengel<\/strong> who is an associate professor of radiation<\/strong> oncology <\/strong>at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania said, “It has the identical tumor-control rate as conventional radiation<\/strong> but significantly less effect on normal tissue.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In other words, the flash technique appears to eliminate tumor cells while forgiving healthy tissues. The method works by attacking the tumor site with a steady stream of\u00a0particles, normally, light particles, called\u00a0photons, or negatively energized electrons. Now, Cengel<\/strong> and his colleagues have started added particle into the mix the positively charged proton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Time is everything<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The name “flash” completely refers to the ultrafast rate at which the technique delivers radiation<\/strong> to target tissues. Flash beats cells with the equivalent total amount of\u00a0radiation\u00a0as current therapies do, but rather than determining the dose over recurring weeks in minutes-long sessions, the complete treatment lasts just tenths of a second, Vozenin<\/strong> said. Vozenin<\/strong> also stated, “That would be even more helpful if we can go to hundredths of a second.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The speed advances all the difference. In\nconventional radiation<\/strong> therapy<\/strong>, a subject may experience dozens\nof treatment sessions, throughout which time<\/strong> healthy tissues may become\ndamaged long before the tumor cells die. But when the same dose of radiation<\/strong>\nis delivered at a speedier rate, as with a flash, healthy tissues outlast\nunharmed. Specifically why that happens remains a mystery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“That’s the million-dollar question, we are working hard to try to understand that,” Vozenin<\/strong> said. Analysis suggests that the temporary discharge of radiation<\/strong> may create a dip in levels of\u00a0oxygen\u00a0in the healthy tissues, which typically contain far more oxygen than cancerous<\/strong> cells. Tumors resist traditional radiation<\/strong> therapy<\/strong> thanks in part to their lack of oxygen, so the temporary effect inspired by flash might support healthy cells upon the damage, as well as reduce the generation of harm-free\u00a0radicals, according to a report in the journal\u00a0Clinical Oncology, published in 2019.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Put to the test <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The team practiced an existing proton\naccelerator, known as a cyclotron, to run the tests, but made several\nadjustments. The trick was to ramp up the rate at which the protons could be\ndischarged from the machine while also improving procedures to monitor where\nthe protons landed and in what amount. With this infrastructure in place, the\nteam could better control the current of protons flowing from the cyclotron,\n“variety of like a faucet that you can turn on complete blast or\ndrip,” Cengel<\/strong> said.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New research suggests that specialized systems, sometimes, could defend cancer in patients with particles to deliver a full course of flash radiation therapy in mere microseconds. By accepting an emerging technology known as Flash Radiotherapy, doctors could now abolish tumors just in a few milliseconds and at a fraction of the cost of common radiation […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":782,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-412","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chemistry-and-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.science-pickers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.science-pickers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.science-pickers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.science-pickers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.science-pickers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=412"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.science-pickers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":784,"href":"https:\/\/www.science-pickers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412\/revisions\/784"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.science-pickers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/782"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.science-pickers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=412"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.science-pickers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=412"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.science-pickers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=412"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}