PMB is proud to have partnered with the University Hospital of Lausanne (CHUV) for the first treatment of a human patient with FLASH-radiotherapy, in Switzerland. A 75-year-old patient with multiple skin tumors, was treated using the ORIATRON eRT6, a LINAC specifically engineered to safely accelerate electrons in a “FLASH” mode.
This first patient treatment is the positive outcome of several years of fruitful partnership between PMB and CHUV and represents a paradigm shift in the field of radiation therapy.
Why FLASH-radiotherapy?
Many technological advances have made radiation therapy a powerful treatment for patients. However, the efficiency of conventional radiotherapy, which is carried out in several minutes, is limited by the complications and damage caused on surrounding normal tissue.
FLASH-radiotherapy delivers a much higher dose in a few microseconds, destroying cancerous cells without causing any collateral damage to normal tissue, to an extent that was never possible with conventional radiotherapy. FLASH-radiotherapy gives great hope to cancer patients all over the world and shall revolutionize radiation therapy in the near future, making it safer, more precise and more efficient.
PMB is currently developing a device for clinical applications. More information will be released soon.
| Pre-clinical & clinical evidence using the Linac Oriatron eRT6 |
Other research made on the FLASH effect |
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- Prempree T, Michelsen A, Merz T. The repair time of chromosome breaks induced by pulsed x-rays on ultra-high dose rate. Int J Radiat Biol. 1969.
- Favaudon V, Caplier L, Monceau V, Pouzoulet F, Sayarath M, Fouillade C, et al. Ultrahigh dose-rate FLASH irradiation increases the differential response between normal and tumor tissue in mice. Sci Transl Med. 2014; 6.
- Favaudon V, Fouillade C and Vozenin MC. Radiothérapie “flash” à très haut débit de dose: un moyen d’augmenter l’indice thérapeutique par minimisation des dommages aux tissus sains? Ultrahigh dose-rate, “flash” irradiation minimizes the side-effects of radiotherapy. Cancer/Radiothérapie. 2015; 19: 6-7.
- Loo BW, Schuler E, Lartey FM, Rafat M, King GJ, Trovati S, et al. (P003) Delivery of ultra-rapid flash radiation therapy and demonstration of normal tissue sparing after abdominal irradiation of mice. Int J Radiat Oncol. 2017; 98: E16.
- Pratx G and S Kapp D. A computational model of radiolytic oxygen depletion during FLASH irradiation and its effect on the oxygen enhancement ratio. Physics in Medicine & Biology. 2019; 64: 10.
- Vozenin MC, Hendry JH and Limoli CL. Biological Benefits of Ultra-high Dose Rate FLASH Radiotherapy: Sleeping Beauty Awoken. Clin Oncol. 2019; 31: 407–415.
- Montay-Gruel P, M. Acharya M, Petersson, et al. Long-term neurocognitive benefits of FLASH radiotherapy driven by reduced reactive oxygen species. PNAS. 2019; 116: 22.
- Bourhis J, Montay-Gruel P, Jorge PG, et al. Clinical translation of FLASH radiotherapy: Why and how? Radiotherapy & Oncology. 2019; 139: 11-17.
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