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Status and perspectives on FLASH radiotherapy: overview of the FRIDA-INFN Collaboration activities.
Sarti A.
Since 2019, a huge experimental effort is ongoing to understand and quantify/characterise the considerable normal tissue sparing effect observed whenever treatments are delivered in a single fraction with dose rates much larger with respect to the conventional ones. This so-called "FLASH effect" has the potential to significantly widening the therapeutic window of EBRT and re-shaping the future of radiation treatments especially with charged particles. The FRIDA (Flash Radiotherapy with hIgh Dose-rate particle beAms) Collaboration initiative is devoted to the study of several key aspects related to this potential revolution. FRIDA is addressing: the mechanistic understanding and modelling of the effect; the beam delivery techniques needed to trigger the FLASH condition; the beam monitoring and dosimetry techniques capable of sustaining very high dose rates (scintillators, air luminescence detectors, silicon detectors, SiC, alanine pellets, ICT systems); the development of software tools needed for FLASH treatments planning. All these activities will be reviewed in the context of the international effort devoted to the FLASH therapy understanding and clinical translation.