AUTHOR=Lin Binwei , Fan Mi , Niu Tingting , Liang Yuwen , Xu Haonan , Tang Wenqiang , Du Xiaobo 

TITLE=Key changes in the future clinical application of ultra-high dose rate radiotherapy

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Oncology

VOLUME=13

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/oncology/articles/10.3389/fonc.2023.1244488

DOI=10.3389/fonc.2023.1244488

ISSN=2234-943X

ABSTRACT=<p>Ultra-high dose rate radiotherapy (FLASH-RT) is an external beam radiotherapy strategy that uses an extremely high dose rate (≥40 Gy/s). Compared with conventional dose rate radiotherapy (≤0.1 Gy/s), the main advantage of FLASH-RT is that it can reduce damage of organs at risk surrounding the cancer and retain the anti-tumor effect. An important feature of FLASH-RT is that an extremely high dose rate leads to an extremely short treatment time; therefore, in clinical applications, the steps of radiotherapy may need to be adjusted. In this review, we discuss the selection of indications, simulations, target delineation, selection of radiotherapy technologies, and treatment plan evaluation for FLASH-RT to provide a theoretical basis for future research.</p>