• FLASH RADIOTERAPY

FLASH radiotherapy, i.e the administration of ultra-high dose rate radiotherapy, is a
new radiation delivery method that aims to widen the therapeutic window of
radiotherapy. Thus far, the majority in vitro and in vivo results show a real potential of
FLASH radiotherapy to offer a superior normal tissue sparing compared to
conventionally delivered radiation. While there are several hypotheses to explain the
differential behavior between normal and cancer cells under FLASH, the full spectra of
radiobiological mechanisms are yet to be clarified. Currently the number of devices
delivering FLASH dose rate is few and is mainly confined to experimental and modified
linear accelerators .Understanding of the particular beam parameters that cause a given
reaction would be necessary for an ideal FLASH radiation implementation in the clinical
practice
For my thesis I have assessed FLASH effect through clonogenic and MTS assays on
human bronchial epithelial (HBE 16) and adenocarcinoma human alveolar basal
epithelial cells(A549) cell cultures exposed to increasing dose of radiation , with both
conventional and ultra high dose rate modality with a dedicated low electron energy
linear particle accelerator