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Abstract
In the last decade, major advances in high precision treatment delivery and multimodal
imaging allowed radiotherapy to be more efficient and better tolerated. However, the
technology of the accelerators used to generate X-ray beams is outdated and does not
allow to explore the tolerance to novel approaches in terms of dose-rate. We have
been the first to propose a completely novel modality of irradiation, named Flash
radiotherapy, in which the dose per pulse and the instant dose-rate during the pulses
is 103 to 104 higher than those used in conventional facilities. Flash has been shown
to spare mouse lung from radio-induced fibrosis, whilst leaving unchanged the antitumor
potential. Other teams have shown that the advantage of Flash in terms of reduced
complications extends to normal brain and intestinal crypts. The goal of this paper
is to review the progress of studies dealing with very high dose-rate "Flash" irradiation,
describe the theoretical models proposed to explain the underlying mechanisms, and
discuss the prospects for clinical applications of this emerging technique.