Innovations in Radiation Oncology

The book contains up-to-date reports of areas of growth in radiation oncology written for the practising radiation oncologist. Early chapters review conservative treatments that preserve the function and maintain or improve tumor control rates in breast, rectum, anus, head and neck, soft tissues and bones, and the eye. This is followed by a section dealing with extended field therapy encompassing total body irradiation, half body irradiation and systemic therapy with radionuclide-labelled antibodies. The potential roles of three new diagnostic imaging technologies (CT, MRI and PET) in radiotherapy are considered. Various modifications of treatment are reviewed, including hyperfractionation, accelerated treatment, accelerated hyperfractionation and neutron therapy. Also discussed is the clinical use of adjuvants to radiotherapy, such as radiosensitizers, cytotoxic drugs, interstitial and external hyperthermia and bone fixation in metastatic disease. Current innovations for predicting tumor responses are described and a national survey of the quality of radiotherapy in the U.S.A. is reviewed. Finally, two chapters consider the quality of patient survival.

The series "Medical Radiology - Diagnostic Imaging and Radiation Oncology" is the successor to the well known "Encyclopedia of Medical RadiologyjHandbuch der medizinischen Radiologie." This international handbook with its unique compila- tion of data in more than fifty volumes lags behind the fast developing knowledge in radiology today. "Medical Radiology" brings the state of the art on special topics in a timely fashion. The first volume of the series was "Lung cancer," edited by Scarantino. This volume "Innovation in Radiation Oncology," edited by H.R. Withers and L.J. Peters, presents data on the development of new therapeutic strategies in different oncologic diseases. 57 authors wrote 32 chapters covering a broad range of topics. The innovations are at various levels of development, but were all chosen with the practicing radiation oncologist in mind. Perhaps not all of the innovations will survive the test of time, others have now become well established standard procedure in some centers. Also discussed is the assessment of the effectiveness of standard treat- ment and how it effects the quality of a patient's survival. The contributions have been grouped into 9 broad sections as outlined in the table of contents. We think the second volume, as the whole series, will provide valuable reading for the general community of radiation oncologists.

Contents: General Aspects.- Conservation Therapy.- Extended Field Therapy.- Restricted Field Therapy.- New Imaging Technologies and Radiotherapy.- Modified Fractionation.- Drugs and Radiation.- Neutrons.- Adjunctive Therapies.- Subject Index.