New ways to fight cancer are almost always good

Meet FLASH Radiotherapy

FLASH radiotherapy represents a remarkable new front in the battle against cancer, breaking from decades of established radiation therapy principles with an eye on more effective delivery and targeting. It is a new technique that delivers in milliseconds rather than minutes, achieving what was once thought impossible: superior control while reducing consequential damage to healthy tissue.

Chemotherapy is a brute force attack on cancer that emerged from the tragic circumstances of World War II when, in December 1942, pharmacologists Louis Goodman and Alfred Gilman, alongside thoracic surgeon Gustaf Lindskog, administered the first chemotherapy treatment to a 48-year-old man with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma at Yale University. Their groundbreaking insight arose from studying the effects of mustard gas on WWI veterans, where they observed its dramatic impact on white blood cell counts, leading them to hypothesize that similar compounds might effectively combat cancers of the lymphoid tissues.

Something born of war and mustard gas? Surely we can do better. And we are on the cusp of better with FLASH radiotherapy.

The technology first emerged in 2014 when French scientists demonstrated its potential. However, its evolution has been dramatically accelerated (pun!) through an collaboration with CERN. By adapting technology from the particle accelerator, crucial technical constraints have been overcome.

Stateside, at the University of Pennsylvania research has furthered FLASH’s technique and has begun to yield more expansive evidence of the treatment’s upside.

In the lab of Dr. Constantinos Koumenis, studies have shown that this ultra-rapid delivery method not only maintains therapeutic efficacy but also reduces complications like skin infections and lymphedema. This is, obviously, particularly promising is its potential for treating sensitive areas like the brain, where conventional radiation's side effects can be devastating.

Dr. Constantinos Koumenis, from the great University of Pennsylvania

This same upside resonates as the focus shifts to cancers situated in or near other critical organs where conventional radiation's side effects prove quite limiting. Cancers like those in the head or neck (where traditional chemotherapy can severely impact swallowing and speech) are a target, as are cancers near vital organs like the heart and lungs.

Thinking more holistically, this technology also avoids another pratfall of traditional chemotherapy and preserves the body’s immune functionality. This opens up new possibilities for pancreatic cancer and other aggressive malignancies where combining radiation with immunotherapy is thought to be essential.

Next steps are the consequential human trials, and further fine-tuning of approaches (electron and proton-based FLASH therapy.) But even with these hurdles and resolutions ahead FLASH radiotherapy stands poised to transform cancer treatment, offering new hope through this remarkable convergence of physics and medicine.

New Hope is a good movie. And a good note in the fight against cancer.