Listen to article \u2022\u00a00:00 min<\/p>\n
Penn Medicine researchers are testing whether an ultrafast form of radiation therapy can treat cancers in the head and neck with fewer side effects.<\/p>\n
The clinical trial marks the first time the technology, conformal FLASH proton therapy, is being used in humans.<\/p>\n
Radiation therapy, one of the most commonly used cancer treatments<\/a>, works by aiming high-energy beams at tumors. While this kills cancer cells, it can also cause damage to surrounding healthy tissues. <\/p>\n Patients with head and neck cancers<\/a>, for example, can develop ulcers in the mouth, damage to the jawbone, dry mouth, and scarring as a result.<\/p>\n A trial launched this month at Penn Medicine\u2019s Abramson Cancer Center will assess whether delivering radiation more than 100 times faster than typical therapies is safe and could lessen that damage.<\/p>\n The pilot trial will enroll 10 people whose head and neck cancers have returned.<\/p>\n These are patients who lack good treatment options and risk side effects that interfere with speaking, breathing, and swallowing.<\/p>\n \u201cGiving another full dose of radiation is very hard for these patients,\u201d said Jonathan Schoenfeld, who directs the Head & Neck Radiation Oncology program at Mass General Brigham and is not involved in the trial. \u201cThis is a good population that could potentially benefit from this type of approach.\u201d <\/p>\n The specific type of FLASH radiation used in this study was developed by researchers at Penn and the Belgium-based Ion Beam Applications S.A. (IBA), which manufactures the platform and is sponsoring the study.<\/p>\n In mouse studies, FLASH proton therapy reduced side effects while still killing cancer cells. Researchers have since tested the approach in a clinical trial involving dogs with cancer.<\/p>\n However, promising results in animals often do not translate to humans. Even if the trial produces encouraging results, it could take years before the therapy becomes widely available.<\/p>\n \u00bb READ MORE: Dispatch Bio launches its first clinical trial to develop a universal treatment for solid cancers<\/a><\/p>\n The hope, ultimately, is not only to preserve quality of life in patients, but to make radiation therapy more convenient and accessible.<\/p>\n \u201cInstead of 30 to 40 treatments, we can do the treatment in one to five treatments,\u201d said Alexander Lin, a radiation oncologist at Penn and the trial\u2019s lead investigator. <\/p>\n Faster and fewer doses<\/p>\n Doctors typically divide a patient\u2019s radiation therapy into dozens of daily treatments over several weeks.<\/p>\n FLASH radiation aims to accomplish that in fewer doses.<\/p>\n Think of it like air travel: A trip from the East to the West Coast would take hours with today\u2019s technology. But if you can fly at the speed of light, it would take less than a second.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re giving the same dose or similar dose, but the dosage rate changes,\u201d said Constantinos Koumenis, the vice chair for research in Penn\u2019s Department of Radiation Oncology and a developer of the therapy.<\/p>\n Lin hopes this lighter schedule could alleviate some of the time and financial burden of treatment.<\/p>\n The FLASH therapy builds upon a highly advanced radiation treatment, proton therapy<\/a>, which uses protons to more precisely target tumors. Penn has heavily invested in the expensive technology<\/a>, with its fourth proton therapy center \u2014 a $224 million facility at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center in University City<\/a> \u2014 expected to open in 2027.<\/p>\n