VHEE beam makes precision strike on tumours

In their research, the team used a magnetic lens to focus a Very High Electron Energy (VHEE) beam to a zone of a few millimetres, enabling it to be rapidly scanned across a tumour while controlling its intensity.

ITAR project aims to improve African radiotherapy access

It is being proposed as an alternative to other forms of radiotherapy, which can risk non-tumorous tissue becoming overexposed to radiation.

The study was undertaken at the CERN Linear Electron Accelerator for Research (CLEAR) facility, and involved researchers at CERN, Oxford University, the National Physical Laboratory, the John Adams Institute for Accelerator Science, the University of Napoli Federico II, the University of Oslo and Saclay Nuclear Research Centre in France. The team’s findings are published in Nature Communications Physics.

In a statement, study leader Professor Dino Jaroszynski, from Strathclyde's Department of Physics, said: "Around 40 per cent of cancers are treated using external beam radiotherapy. The most commonly used form of radiation is high energy x-ray photons, in which several intercepting shaped x-ray beams of various intensities irradiate a tumour, while avoiding adjacent critical or radiosensitive tissue.