The ORIGIN project is developing a vastly improved methodology, a photonics-based optical dose imaging and localisation system whose resolution will significantly reduce the overall risk of treatment error.
The ability to deliver medicine exactly where it is needed typically results in more effective treatment at lower doses with fewer side-effects than treatments with lower spatial or temporal resolution. Just as a nasal inhaler works on this principle, radiation to treat cancer has benefited from increasingly localised administration through brachytherapy (placing encapsulated radioactive material inside the body in the area of cancerous tissue). Given that radiation can have much more serious side-effects on healthy cells than a nasal inhalant, clinicians monitor its administration in real-time.