The body Carlo Maria Lazzarini has in fact invented a new method that could defeat tumors in the future, read through the laser. The idea was born seven years ago, therefore the first patent, and today the leap in quality with the creation of an electron beam in the laboratory at a record energy that allowed the first in vivo experiments on zebrafish cells and embryos.
«The result – specifies Lazzarini himself speaking to the microphones of Il Messaggero – consists in having created in the laboratory an extremely collimated electron beam accelerated with a laser ultrashort (femtosecond) at 1 kHz at a record energy never reached before of 50 MeV (mega-electron volt). It hadn’t been possible until now obtain – the physicist specified – both high-energy and high-repetition beams at the same time. Both of these parameters are necessary for medical applications.” Compared to the laser beam prototype of a few years ago, the physicist underlines how the step forward was the effective demonstration of the «possibility of creating beams of relativistic electrons that can be used as invisible scalpels for radiotherapy and more».
LAZZARINI AND THE LASER: “WE ARE MAKING THEM COMPATIBLE WITH MEDICINE”
«Their frequency (1 kHz, 1000 shots per second), would also make it possible to provide the dose necessary for treatments in a few tens of seconds». These are lasers that work for lung, prostate and brain tumors but also to reduce the cost of therapy in the future.
The project is still in an experimental phase but is taking advantage of important collaborations in the oncology field also Italian ones such as the Polyclinic of Bari «We are testing how to appropriately treat the electron beams in order to make them compatible with medical needs and the speed of a possible treatment. Furthermore, the first in vivo tests on biological samples are already underway to study the effects of the radiation produced by the laser.” The laser beam is emanated from an accelerator which it is less than two cubic meters large, but thanks to engineering and design the dimensions could be further reduced.
LAZZARINI AND THE LASER: “FOR THE FIRST REAL APPLICATIONS…”
Regarding the first applications, instead, the first treatments (not on humans) could already take place in the next few years, «However, to get to have a machine that can be used in the medical field, more time and large funding on the scale of tens of millions of euros will be needed», specifies Lazzarini. But laser beams can be also used in high fields, not just doctors.
«For example, ultra-fast diagnostic imaging, again in the medical field, for X-rays. Another application is the use of these electron beams to test the resistance to radiation of materials and electronic components for aerospace use. Our electron beams can simulate part of the radiation spectrum present, for example, in the geostationary orbits in which satellites used for communications and space missions travel.” In fact, they can be simulated in the laboratory energies and flows of “killer” particles which are “generated by solar storms that could knock out the electronic systems of satellites in orbit”. There would also be implications military but the physicist Lazzarini specifies: «My team and I are not working in this direction».
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