Radiation therapy firm Varian Medical Systems announced that it has achieved an important milestone in the research of Flash therapy technology in collaboration with Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center/University of Cincinnati Medical Center Proton Therapy Center.
The combined research team utilized Varian's ProBeam proton therapy gantry treatment room in research mode to successfully complete a Flash treatment delivery -- high-dose-rate cancer treatment with photons -- to a phantom target. The test was performed to investigate whether a commercial proton therapy system in research mode could deliver a therapeutic dose at Flash dose rates of at least 100 Gy/sec to a lung lesion in a stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) phantom within clinically acceptable tolerances, the vendor said.