The ultra-fast cancer treatments which could replace conventional radiotherapy

A pioneering new treatment promises to tackle a wider range of cancers, with fewer side-effects than conventional radiotherapy.

In a series of vast underground caverns on the outskirts of Geneva , Switzerland , experiments are taking place which may one day lead to new generation of radiotherapy machines.

The home of these experiments is the European Laboratory for Particle Physics (Cern).

Oncologists at Lausanne University Hospital in Switzerland are conducting a Phase 2 trial of Flash therapy.

The next phase of research is not only about testing whether Flash works in people, but identifying which kind of radiation is the best one to use.

Proton therapy, delivered with carbon ions, can only be delivered via vast pieces of equipment in specialist centres, which is expensive.

There are only 195 radiotherapy machines in sub-Saharan Africa , compared with 4,172 in the US and Canada .

Annual incidence and mortality from cancer expected to double across the African continent by 2040 .

Only 10% of cancer patients in low-income countries have access to radiotherapy, compared to 90% in high-income nations.