Ultracompact electron accelerators for internal radiotherapy (UCART)

Radiotherapy is an important pillar in cancer treatment. Current treatment methods for deep-seated tumors usually rely on external radiation, which also damages healthy tissue. Opportunities to significantly improve existing radiation equipment have largely been exhausted. In addition, global access to these therapies is restricted by high infrastructure requirements and costs.

The "UCART" project aims to take a completely new approach to radiotherapy. Novel, light-driven mechanisms for electron acceleration reduce the size of the accelerators by more than 1,000 times from meters to (sub)millimeters. This means that the ultra-compact electron accelerators can be inserted into the body using minimally invasive endoscopy and electron beams are generated directly in the body close to the tumor. This enables high-precision treatment while sparing healthy tissue. The overall goal is to create low-cost, ultra-compact radiotherapy devices that can be operated in a similar way to X-ray machines and that are widely used in medical facilities. This would enable precise, personalized and less damaging cancer treatments and make them available to a greater number of patients, from local medical practices to developing countries.

Prof. Dr. Anke-Susanne Müller and Prof. Dr. Matthias Fuchs from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and Prof. Dr. Oliver Jäkel from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) in Heidelberg are conducting research into this.