This new technique revolutionizes cancer treatment, it will soon be available in France

This new technique revolutionizes cancer treatment, it will soon be available in France


This new technique revolutionizes cancer treatment, it will soon be available in France

This innovative technology is much more effective than conventional radiotherapy, especially on cancers that are difficult to treat or even incurable.

It is one of the treatments of tomorrow that brings immense hopes for patients. Today, radiotherapy is one of the weapons against cancer, but it has several drawbacks. It is not effective on all cancers, and it damages the tissues around tumors, causing significant side effects. This is why “flash” radiotherapy is a revolution: it emits very intense rays in less than a second, while sparing healthy tissues.

It is therefore much more efficient and precise, in record time, with fewer side effects. This technology had been discovered and revealed in the 2010s by the Institut Curie. And after 15 years of research, several institutes have this innovative radiotherapy, which is still the subject of studies.

First, the Gustave-Roussy Center, the first cancer control center in Europe, announced in summer 2023 to be equipped with “the very first clinical flash radiotherapy machine in France for the treatment of superficial tumors”. Clinical trials are currently being conducted on patients with skin cancer. Gustave-Roussy must also obtain in 2026 from another flash radiotherapy machine, this time being able to reach deeper tumors, up to 20 cm. A world first, according to the French center. Clinical trials are expected to start in the coming years.

More recently, the Institut Curie also announced the launch of a similar project, with the installation of flash radiotherapy capable of treating “all tumors up to 20-30 cm deep”: brain, thorax, abdomen. . “Of extreme precision, this new technology aims to shorten the treatments and target in particular cancers of poor prognosis located near vital organs, hitherto inaccessible”, specifies the institute in a press release.

Their goal is to “start clinical trials on patients affected by bad prognosis” in 2028, such as lung, pancreas, or even brain cancer. Cancers “whose treatments are not effective enough or too toxic and for which we have not observed or not much therapeutic progress for several years,” recalls the Curie Institute.

This revolutionary technology brings a lot of hope for patients with cancer, which should be more and more numerous in the coming years. According to the World Health Organization, the number of cancer cases is expected to increase by almost 80 % by 2050 worldwide.

Related Articles