Abstract
This chapter highlights the role of radiotherapy as an effective part of a patient’s cancer treatment in many cancer sites focusing on nasopharynx, breast, prostate and rectal cancer. We illustrate the fundamental principles of radiotherapy from biological and physical effects to the last technological developments that have improved the planning and delivery of treatment allowing a better quality of life of the patients. Among integrated treatments, the combination of radiotherapy and immunotherapy is becoming more and more charming for radiation and clinical oncologists with a synergizing effect by rendering irradiated cells more vulnerable toward immune system.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Withers HR. The four Rs of radiotherapy. In: Lett JT, Adler H, Zelle M, editors. Advances in Radiation Biology. 4. New York: Academic Press; 1975. p. 209–54.
Formenti SC, Demaria S. Systemic effects of local radiotherapy. Lancet Oncol. 2009;10(7):718–26.
Steel GG, Peckham MJ. Exploitable mechanisms in combined radiotherapy-chemotherapy: the concept of additivity. Int J RadiatOncol Biol Phys. 1979;5:85–91.
Bentzen SM, Harari PM, Bernier J. Exploitable mechanisms for combining drugs with radiation: concepts, achievements and future directions. Nat Clin Pract Oncol. 2007;4:172–80.
Bakiu E, et al. Comparison of 3D CRT and IMRT treatment plans. Acta Inform Med. 2013;21(3):211–2.
Franzone P, et al. Image-guided radiation therapy (IGRT): practical recommendations of Italian Association of Radiation Oncology (AIRO). Radiol Med. 2016;121(12):958–65. Epub 2016 Sep 6.
Chavaudra J, Bridier A. Definition of volumes in external radiotherapy: ICRU reports 50 and 62. Cancer Radiother. 2001;5(5):472–8.
Liu F, et al. The role of concurrent chemotherapy for stage II nasopharyngeal carcinoma in the intensity-modulated radiotherapy era: a systematic review and meta-analysis. PLoS One. 2018;13(3):e0194733. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0194733. eCollection 2018.
Pukala J, et al. Adaptive radiation therapy replanning for head-and-neck cancers and the dosimetric benefit to the parotid glands. Int J Radiat Oncol. 2013;87(2):S713–S71.
Early Breast Cancer Trialists’ Collaborative Group (EBCTCG), Darby S, McGale P, Correa C, Taylor C, Arriagada R, Clarke M, Cutter D, Davies C, Ewertz M, Godwin J, Gray R, Pierce L, Whelan T, Wang Y, Peto R. Effect of radiotherapy after breast-conserving surgery on 10-year recurrence and 15-year breast cancer death: meta-analysis of individual patient data for 10,801 women in 17 randomised trials. Lancet. 2011;378(9804):1707–16. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(11)61629-2. Epub 2011 Oct 19.
Tsoutsou PG, Koukourakis MI, Azria D, Belkacémi Y. Optimal timing for adjuvant radiation therapy in breast cancer: a comprehensive review and perspectives. Crit Rev Oncol Hematol. 2009;71(2):102–16. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.critrevonc.2008.09.002. Epub 2008 Oct 14.
Campobasso D, et al. Very high-risk prostate cancer: multimodality treatment will be the new frontier Cent European. J Urol. 2017;70(3):324–5.
Sarkar S, Das S. A review of imaging methods for prostate cancer detection. Biomed Eng Comput Biol. 2016;7(Suppl 1):1–15.
Cui J, et al. Advances for achieving a pathological complete response for rectal cancer after neoadjuvant therapy. Chronic Dis Transl Med. 2016;2(1):10–6.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2021 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Fazio, I., Rinaldi, C.G., Alongi, F., Mazzonello, A., Federico, M., Ramella, S. (2021). Integrated Treatments: The Role of Radiotherapy. In: Russo, A., Peeters, M., Incorvaia, L., Rolfo, C. (eds) Practical Medical Oncology Textbook. UNIPA Springer Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-56051-5_14
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-56051-5_14
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-56050-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-56051-5
eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)