Oncology ·
First patient treated in ConformalFLASH proton study; face-photo AI stratifies cancer mortality risk; whole-genome MRD test finds more recurrences
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IBA said the first patient was treated at Penn Medicine in a feasibility study of its ConformalFLASH ultra-high dose rate proton therapy for head and neck cancer re-irradiation. A Mass General Brigham AI model that reads face photographs stratified mortality risk in patients with cancer, Abbott reported company data on a whole-genome molecular residual disease test, and IceCure enrolled the first U.S. patients in a breast cancer cryoablation study.
THE DETAILS
- Technology Oct 21, 2026IBA said Oct. 21 that the first patient was treated at Penn Medicine, under an investigational device exemption, in C-FLASH-01, which the company called the first human feasibility study investigating fractionated ConformalFLASH proton therapy delivered using Bragg peak proton beams. The study enrolls patients requiring re-irradiation for head and neck cancer who are not amenable to surgical resection. The system is designed to combine the physical precision of proton therapy with ultra-high dose rate delivery and is under research and development, and its potential clinical benefits remain under investigation, the company said.Source: IBA (GlobeNewswire)
- AI Oct 20, 2026FAHR-Face, a foundation model trained on more than 40 million facial photographs, was fine-tuned on 34,363 photographs of patients with cancer to predict survival, according to a Mass General Brigham study in The Lancet Digital Health reported Oct. 20. Patients in the highest-risk quartile had a significantly increased risk of mortality compared with the lowest-risk quartile (adjusted hazard ratio 3.23; P < .0001), and the models were tested on two independent data sets, The ASCO Post reported. Dr. Raymond H. Mak, a radiation oncologist and co-corresponding author, said the tool can support personalized treatment decisions rather than replace physician judgment.
- Research Oct 23, 2026Abbott said Oct. 23 that a single blood test taken about one month after surgery with the whole-genome sequencing version of its tumor-informed Oncodetect molecular residual disease test reached 72.2% sensitivity for recurrence within two years, compared with 42.2% for the whole-exome version, in the Beta-CORRECT study. The company-reported analysis used post-surgical samples from 279 patients, predominantly with stage II and III colorectal cancer, and was presented as a poster at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress. The test has not been cleared or approved by the Food and Drug Administration, the company said.Source: Abbott (PR Newswire)
- Technology Oct 20, 2026IceCure said Oct. 20 that the first two patients were enrolled in its ChoICE post-marketing study of ProSense cryoablation for the local treatment of low-risk breast cancer, at West Cancer Center & Research Institute in Germantown, Tennessee, and Adventist Health Glendale in Glendale, California. The study is designed to enroll about 400 patients across up to 30 U.S. sites. The company said ProSense is cleared by the Food and Drug Administration for patients 70 and older with biologically low-risk tumors of 1.5 cm or smaller who are treated with adjuvant endocrine therapy.Source: IceCure (PR Newswire)
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