New cancer treatment can cure cancer in less than a second

Flash radiotherapy could replace conventional cancer cures. The advancements of flash radiotherapy machines could revolutionize cancer treatments with ultra-fast radio-therapy, where the radiation is delivered in less than a second.

Traditional radiotherapy for cancer treatment typically takes numerous sessions of radiation sessions. Though this method is effective, it often damages healthy tissues in cases such as brain cancer. The innovative Flash radiotherapy, on the other hand, cuts the number of sessions drastically, sometimes into one, or a small handful of sessions, because it delivers radiation at dose rates that are more than 300 times higher than those used in conventional radiation treatments. This induces a phenomenon known as the FLASH effect, which reduces the harm that may occur to normal tissue surrounding a tumor during conventional radiation therapy, while still killing the cancer cells at the tumor site.


The Flash radiation therapy has shown effective and safe results without causing unexpected side effects in animal testing previously. A first-in-human trial in a small trial of patients with metastatic cancer was found safe and effective for pain relief.

“Our study shows FLASH radiotherapy with protons is a practical modality to reduce pain. It deserves further exploration because of its potential to decrease the side effects associated with conventional radiation treatments,” Emily C. Daugherty, MD, lead author of the study and an assistant professor of clinical radiation oncology at the University of Cincinnati Cancer Center said in a statement in 2022.

“Because FLASH radiotherapy is given at ultra-high dose rates, it appears to cause less normal tissue injury. This offers the possibility of delivering larger doses of radiation – which could result in higher cure rates for patients with resistant tumors – without increasing side effects,” John Breneman, MD, FASTRO, principal investigator on the trial and a professor of radiation oncology and neurosurgery at the University of Cincinnati Cancer Center earlier said.

Also Flash radiotherapy could be useful for curing cancer in children, as they are more sensitive to the side effects of radiation therapy. However, much more research is required to be completed prior to the application on patients.



The biggest obstacle at present is the accessibility of this new generation of radiotherapy machines. The advancements of these machines could lead to ultra-fast cure for cancers. “FLASH-RT has theoretical advantages over conventional radiotherapy. Preclinical experiments support the use of FLASH-RT, but they were carried out at depths up to several centimetres limited by the range of megavoltage electrons accelerated by linear accelerators. Major technological advances are needed to enable the generation of FLASH photons, and potentially of protons, VHEE and heavy ions,” says the 2022 study.

According to Dr. Daugherty, researchers don’t fully understand why FLASH RT kills tumors with fewer side effects compared to conventional radiation. So further research is needed to determine the biological mechanisms driving the FLASH effect.

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