Speaker
Description
The FLASH effect describes the observation of normal tissue protection by
ultra-high dose rates (UHDR), i.e. dose delivery in a fraction of a second, at
similar tumor-killing efficacy of conventional dose delivery and promises
great benefits for radiotherapy patients. Dedicated studies are now necessary
to define a robust and optimum set of dose application parameters for FLASH
radiotherapy and to identify underlying mechanisms. These studies require
particle accelerators with high beam intensity and variable temporal dose
application characteristics for numerous radiation qualities, equipped for
preclinical radiobiological research.
The "Dresden platform" as a research hub for ultra-high dose rate radiobiology
unites clinical and research electron and proton accelerators with
radiobiology infrastructure and know-how, offering an unique environment for
preclinical FLASH effect studies.
Applying the zebrafish embryo model a comparative pre-clinical study was
conducted across the ELBE electron research accelerator, a clinical proton
cyclotron, and an advanced laser-driven proton source applied for
FLASH-relevant in vivo irradiations for the first time. The flexible beam
pulse structure at ELBE allows to demonstrate a protective effect of UHDR
irradiation up to 10^5 Gy/s average electron dose rate, compared to
conventional beam delivery over minutes. The proton experiments suggest the
consistency of the protective effect even at escalated dose rates of 10^9 Gy/s
for laser-driven relative to conventional proton beams.
Moreover, the first mice experiments investigating the response of brain
normal tissue and subcutaneous tumors for UHDR and conventional proton beams
started recently.
With the first clinical FLASH studies underway, research facilities like the
Dresden platform, addressing the open questions surrounding FLASH, are
essential to accelerate FLASH’s translation into clinical practice.
