Photon FLASH

Radiation therapy is a core component in cancer treatment. Patients often receive 10-30 daily low-dose sessions for optimal treatment. This lengthy treatment plan is costly and inconvenient, limits patient throughput, and causes side effects from damage to healthy tissue. The performers aim to develop devices to deliver FLASH radiotherapy with photon beams. FLASH relies on a biomedical phenomenon through which ultra-high radiation dose rates (UHDR) are toxic to tumor cells while sparing healthy tissue. If successful, Photon FLASH will augment cancer therapy by replacing a great number of radiotherapy treatments with short, single-session radiotherapy dosing. Enabling tumor control with reduced toxicity to healthy tissue will improve patient outcomes, reduce side effects, and lower healthcare costs. 

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