Radiation Oncologist Questions Radiation Therapy

New radiation treatments

What are the latest developments in raddiation therapy? What are the most exciting?

5 Answers

There are constantly evolving new therapies some of which I am working on combining modalities, but radiation is usually site-specific. There are numerous publications, meetings, and research projects ongoing.
There are a few new technologies available, such as Stereotactic Radiosurgery/therapy, Proton therapy.
For photon: IMRT (intensity moderated radiation therapy) and IGRT (image guided radiation therapy). Proton therapy offers a better understanding of cancer and prevention.
1) Edge radiosurgery system by Varian Technology, for full body stereotactic body radiosurgery( SBRT), for targeted treatment with precision.
2) Versa HD, a versatile all-in-one system by Electa, to deliver SBRT/SRS with high degree of precision.

The above two systems are the latest in Radiation delivery systems, to maximize the tumor dose and minimize dose to normal structures.
Stereotactic radio-surgery, Cyberknife treatments, and Proton therapy all treat the cancer extremely accurately and prevent the normal tissues from getting hardly any radiation.