Radiotherapy: technical aspects

• Autores: Louise J. Murray, Martin H. Robinson
• Localización: Medicine, ISSN-e 1357-3039, Vol. 44, Nº. 1, 2016, págs. 10-14
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • Radiotherapy is involved in the treatment of at least 40% of cancer patients. Whereas palliative radiotherapy is typically given over 1–10 treatments, radical treatments can extend over 4–8 weeks. Radiation is delivered by external-beam machines or by inserting radioactive isotopes. Modern imaging, computing and delivery systems have led to dramatic improvements in external-beam radiotherapy. Treatment aims to accurately and precisely deliver high radiation doses to tumour tissue and minimize doses received by surrounding normal tissues. Image-guided radiotherapy increases accuracy by evaluating tumour motion during treatment. Stereotactic radiotherapy delivers very high radiation doses very accurately in a small number of treatments and is used for intra- and extracranial lesions. New developments aim to further improve treatment accuracy and precision, with the ultimate aim of increasing cure and reducing toxicity.