The FLASH Effect Depends on Oxygen Concentration

Overview

Journal Br J Radiol

Publisher Oxford University Press

Specialty Radiology

Date 2019 Dec 12

PMID 31825653

Citations 90

Authors

Gabriel Adrian

Elise Konradsson

Michael Lempart

Sven Back

Crister Ceberg

Kristoffer Petersson

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Objective: Recent results have shown prominent tissue sparing effect of radiotherapy with ultra-high dose rates (FLASH) compared to conventional dose rates (CONV). Oxygen depletion has been proposed as the underlying mechanism, but data to support this have been lacking. The aim of the current study was to compare FLASH to CONV irradiation under different oxygen concentrations .

Methods: Prostate cancer cells were irradiated at different oxygen concentrations (relative partial pressure ranging between 1.6 and 20%) with a 10 MeV electron beam at a dose rate of either 600 Gy/s (FLASH) or 14 Gy/min (CONV), using a modified clinical linear accelerator. We evaluated the surviving fraction of cells using clonogenic assays after irradiation with doses ranging from 0 to 25 Gy.

Results: Under normoxic conditions, no differences between FLASH and CONV irradiation were found. For hypoxic cells (1.6%), the radiation response was similar up to a dose of about 5-10 Gy, above which increased survival was shown for FLASH compared to CONV irradiation. The increased survival was shown to be significant at 18 Gy, and the effect was shown to depend on oxygen concentration.

Conclusion: The FLASH effect depends on oxygen concentration. Further studies to characterize and optimize the use of FLASH in order to widen the therapeutic window are indicated.

Advances In Knowledge: This paper shows evidence for the role of oxygen concentration underlying the difference between FLASH and CONV irradiation.

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