FLASH RADIOTHERAPY AS NEW PERSPECTIVE IN RADIOTHERAPY TECHNOLOGY

Flash radioterapija kot nova možnost v radioterapevtski tehnologiji

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to present FLASH radiotherapy (FLASH-RT) as a new radiation therapy method, to explain its mechanisms of action, to present possible sources and devices of radiation and to identify its advantages and disadvantages compared to conventional radiotherapy (CONV-RT).

Methods: Numerous articles were reviewed for this study in a scientific research online database (PubMed) that were published in the last 10 years (2012-2022). We used PRISMA model to simplify our research and we gathered 14 articles that described the basic features of FLASH-RT.

Results and Discussion: Most studies have found that FLASH-RT reduces toxicity to healthy tissues adjacent to the tumour. The majority of studies showed the same anti-tumour effect as CONV-RT, some even better. At present, there is a lack of suitable radiation devices for the use of FLASH-RT, and it will be necessary to adapt existing devices.

Conclusion: FLASH-RT could be used in highly radioresistant tumours where CONV-RT would cause too much damage to healthy tissue with increase in radiation dose. It could also be useful in tumours where CONV-RT is successful but too toxic for healthy tissue adjacent to the tumour. A lot of research is needed before clinical implementation of FLASH-RT, to find out an optimal: dose rate, dose for different types of cancer and with most favorable effect/toxicity ratio, and technical solution (i.e. radiation source).

Keywords: FLASH radiotherapy, conventional radiotherapy, toxicity to healthy tissues, antitumour effect