Nuclear Medicine Institute Establishes Therapeutic Radiation Treatment System... Clinical Application in 2026

Commemoration Ceremony Held on the 20th... Expectation of Improved Cancer Treatment Effectiveness

Reference photo. Not directly related to the article.

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bong-su] The Korea Institute of Radiological & Medical Sciences held a commemorative ceremony on the 20th to mark the establishment of a research system for ultra-high dose rate radiotherapy (FLASH radiotherapy) for patient treatment.

Ultra-high dose rate (FLASH) radiotherapy delivers high-intensity radiation within one second, minimizing damage to normal tissues and significantly enhancing cancer treatment effectiveness. It enables treatment of cancers in sensitive areas such as neural tissues and digestive organs, where radiation therapy is usually difficult due to side effects, as well as cancers that are resistant to conventional radiation therapy. It is especially expected to be highly useful for treating cancers in moving areas such as the lungs and liver.

Generally, ultra-high dose rate radiation refers to radiation doses of 40 to 500 Gy per second delivered within 0.5 seconds, which is over 1,000 times faster than conventional radiation therapy (0.03 to 0.4 Gy per second), and has been reported to have a greater therapeutic effect on cancer.

Currently, ultra-high dose rate radiotherapy, proposed worldwide as a revolutionary radiation treatment method, has shown treatment effects in small experimental animals. However, biological mechanism research applicable to actual clinical use requires securing an ultra-high dose rate radiation system, which is only very limitedly available at some research institutions in Europe and the United States. While small beams with strong intensity have been created for irradiating small experimental animals like mice, producing wide beams with the strong intensity necessary for human treatment requires beam intensities hundreds of times higher than those used in existing hospital accelerators, leaving many technical challenges to be solved.

After over three years of research preparation, the institute has established a patient treatment radiation irradiation system capable of conducting ultra-high dose rate radiation research. Following approval for use last year and receiving research funding from the Ministry of Science and ICT this year, full-scale research is underway with the goal of clinical application by 2026.

The institute stated, "We have begun experiments on the effects of ultra-high dose rate radiotherapy on small experimental animals and cancer cells, securing and analyzing basic research materials through animal experiments and over 1,000 cancer cell irradiations. We also plan to extend cancer treatment to companion animals in the future," adding, "The developing ultra-high energy (50 MeV) electron accelerator will enable treatment of cancers throughout the body, including deep within the human body, with the advantage of delivering radiation doses uniformly. We plan to build a system that improves the precision of radiation distribution and allows for energy upgrades of ultra-high dose rate radiation."