Synchroton radiation:an extraordinary tool for cutting edge biomedical imaging and therapy

by Alberto Bravin (ESRF-European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, Grenoble France)

Thursday 18 Jun 2015, 15:00 → 17:00 Europe/Rome

Aula Careri (Dip. di Fisica - Edificio G. Marconi)

X-ray imaging has been the widespread diagnostic tool in medicine over the last century. Despite its success, X-ray diagnostics reaches its limits in examination of soft-tissues, such as small tumours, or lungs, vessels, cartilage. Moreover, medical imaging requires high contrast at low-radiation dose. In this scenario, innovative methods using synchrotron radiation sources open new diagnostic opportunities. The intense X-ray beams available at the ESRF are also well suited for radiation therapy. A flagship development in this field is microbeam radiation therapy (MRT), which uses very high doses of microscopic beams delivered to tissues in a fraction of a second. These microbeams are very well tolerated by normal tissues while tumoral tissues appear to be much more radiosensitive. MRT is being tested for the treatment of aggressive brain tumors and for brain function modulation. An overview of recent results obtained in imaging and radiation therapy will be presented and discussed.