Developments in radiation therapy: image guided radiation therapy
Year: 2019
Type: article
Abstract: Radiation therapy has been used in the management of cancer for more than a century. Its goal is to deliver a high therapeutic dose of radiation to a tumour whilst sparing healthy normal tissue. In order to achieve this continuous developments and innovations in the planning and delivery of radiation therapy treatment are made. Technological advances in radiation therapy have resulted in significant improvement in the planning and delivery of this cancer treatment, yielding decreased normal tissue toxicity, increased tumour control and good patient quality of life. One of the arguably greatest developments in radiation therapy is the introduction of image guided radiation therapy (IGRT), which allows for imaging in the radiation therapy treatment room with adjustments per individual patient to account for geometric deviations. Reviewed literature from January 2012 to August 2016 was sourced to discuss and critically evaluate the different technological developments in radiation therapy.
Source: South African Radiographer
Author: Oupa Steven Motshweneng
Institutions: University of Cape Town, Tygerberg Hospital
Language: English
Subfield: Radiation
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W3005167486