Radiotherapy in 0.03 Seconds: Results Unveiled from a Domestic e-FLASH Trial Led by Our Hospital
A radiation therapy is completed in 0.03 seconds, killing tumors accurately while causing less damage to normal tissues... On October 14, at the launch ceremony of Sichuan Fusion Science and Technology Innovation City and the investment and financing road show of nuclear energy and nuclear technology application results, the results of the e-Flash clinical trial led by our hospital and Zhongjiu Flash Medical Technology Co., Ltd. were released on-site, attracting attention.
On March 27, 2025, our hospital took the lead in cooperating with many domestic hospitals to launch the first domestic "ultra-high dose rate electron beam radiotherapy (e-Flash) multi-center clinical trial" project. The e-Flash 200A equipment used in this project was independently developed by Zhongjiu Flash Medical Technology Co., Ltd. It is the first domestic and internationally leading ultra-high dose rate electron beam FLASH radiotherapy equipment. It can use ultra-high dose rate electron beam rays to interact with target tumor tissue. It is mainly suitable for radiotherapy of skin and subcutaneous superficial tumors (including cutaneous basal cell carcinoma, cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma, cutaneous lymphoma or skin and subcutaneous metastatic tumors, etc.).
"The treatment of 5 skin cancer patients has been successfully completed from July to September 2025. At present, the tumors of the 5 patients have been significantly controlled and the safety is good." Vice President Wu Hong said. "After the overall evaluation of the 5 pre-trial patients is completed and the safety and effectiveness are determined, we plan to include 63 more patients for confirmatory trials," Wu Hong said.
It is understood that ultra-high dose rate radiotherapy (FLASH) technology is the third revolutionary innovation in the field of global tumor radiotherapy. It can instantly release ultra-high doses of rays, rapidly destroy the DNA of tumor cells while minimizing damage to normal tissues, thereby achieving the purpose of tumor treatment. From a global perspective, FLASH radiotherapy clinical translation research is still in its infancy, and there are currently only a few relevant international trials, including the FAST-01/02 study for bone metastasis, the IMPulse study for cutaneous melanoma, and the Flash-Skin I study.
Compared with traditional radiotherapy, FLASH radiotherapy has significant clinical advantages of shorter treatment time, stronger tumor killing efficiency, less normal tissue damage, and lower total treatment cost. Specifically, they include: 1. Extremely fast and precise "kill" tumors: Traditional radiotherapy treatment takes about 5-10 minutes at a time, while ultra-high dose rate rays only take less than 1 second to destroy cancer cell DNA in an instant, making tumor killing more efficient; 2. Effective protection of healthy tissues: FLASH radiotherapy can significantly reduce damage to surrounding normal tissues, such as reducing the occurrence of traditional radiotherapy side effects such as hair loss and radiation dermatitis; 3. Efficient treatment and lower total treatment cost: Considering the protection of normal tissue, traditional low-dose rate radiotherapy usually adopts a conventional fractionated irradiation mode of 5-7 weeks. However, due to ultra-high dose rate irradiation of FLASH radiotherapy, most patients can adopt a hypofractionated irradiation mode once to several times within 2 weeks, significantly reducing the direct and indirect costs of treatment. Therefore, this rapid, high-dose irradiation method is expected to greatly improve patients’ treatment experience and quality of life.
With the smooth development of this project, the e-Flash radiotherapy equipment is expected to complete registration and production license in 2027, and officially enter clinical application, benefiting more patients.