Radiation oncology is a field that is changing quickly and is an essential part of how cancer is treated. Rapid improvements in advanced imaging techniques and a better understanding of how cancer works lead to new treatment methods. With these improvements, radiation oncologists can make treatments that focus more on the patient and make better use of the resources and innovations they already have.
Between 2010 and 2020, the number of people with cancer is expected to rise significantly, and the number of radiation oncology specialists is expected to grow from about 140 in 2010 to about 280 in 2020. But there won't be enough doctors to meet the growing need for radiation oncology care in the future. So to keep up with the increasing demand, more studies need to be done to determine how to add more radiation oncologists and therapy services.
The goal of radiation therapy is to make people feel better. Since the late 1800s, people with cancer have been able to feel better with the help of radiotherapy. Since the beginning of the 20th century, radiotherapy has become a very effective way to help people feel better. As a result, palliative radiation oncology is now a subspecialty with its own rules. Palliative radiotherapy aims to relieve symptoms, shrink local tumors, and even cure the patient.
Part of radiotherapy is making a map of the tumor. It helps determine where to inject the radiation and how much to give to the nearby tissues. The best way to map is with 4D conformal radiation therapy, which uses more than one type of imaging. This lets the doctor see the target clearly from different angles.
In radiation oncology, there is also a trend toward making new radiopharmaceuticals. These drugs can go after cancer cells, reducing side effects and improving radiation therapy. For example, the combination of lutetium Lu 177-dotatate and triazine, a drug that stops cells from making chemicals needed for DNA repair, is exciting and potentially useful.
The tumor is hit with beams of protons in proton beam radiation therapy. Because the photons from these beams travel through the body, they show the tissue in front of and behind the tumor. With this method, doctors can give radiation to cancer while putting much less stress on the healthy tissue around it. It also makes it possible for people to get high-dose radiation therapy. Because of this, it has become one of the most commonly used ways to treat cancer.
A radiation oncologist will look at the patient's condition and decide the best way to treat them before they start radiation therapy. This means looking at the patient's medical history and the results of tests done in the past to find the exact area to treat. The radiation therapist then uses imaging scans to help figure out the treatment area and where the radiation beams will go.
The field of radiation oncology has become much more valuable thanks to new technology. For example, many centers now treat a primary tumor that has spread to lymph nodes with the same radiation dose. In addition, the National Comprehensive Cancer Network's largest consensus network recently updated its guidelines. These rules are based on what cancer centers from all over the world have learned. But the question of whether or not to use higher doses on larger tumor volumes is still being discussed.
If you get a CT scan before treatment, the radiation will hurt the surrounding tissues less. In addition, with CT scans, a radiation oncologist can change the patient's position during treatment to protect healthy tissue from damage. With this method, the radiation oncologist may also be able to refocus the radiation beam on the tumor.
The study and development of molecular radiotherapy is an important area. The diagnosis and treatment stages of radiotherapy are changing because of 3D printing. A lot of research is being done on 3D-printable materials to improve the quality and safety of those used in radiotherapy. Also, these materials can be essential in helping to treat patients. Radiation oncology is going through an exciting time right now.
FLASH-RT is a new treatment method that lessens radiation damage to healthy tissues. Radiotherapy is the most common way to treat cancer, but this method is 400 times faster. As a result, it could become the primary way radiotherapy is done in hospitals. This method has been used to treat T-cell cutaneous lymphoma, for example.
