Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Radiation Oncology: a Primer for Medical Students

  • Published:
Journal of Cancer Education Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Radiation oncology requires a complex understanding of cancer biology, radiation physics, and clinical care. This paper equips the medical student to understand the fundamentals of radiation oncology, first with an introduction to cancer treatment and the use of radiation therapy. Considerations during radiation oncology consultations are discussed extensively with an emphasis on how to formulate an assessment and plan including which treatment modality to use. The treatment planning aspects of radiation oncology are then discussed with a brief introduction to how radiation works, followed by a detailed explanation of the nuances of simulation, including different imaging modalities, immobilization, and accounting for motion. The medical student is then instructed on how to participate in contouring, plan generation and evaluation, and the delivery of radiation on the machine. Lastly, potential adverse effects of radiation are discussed with a particular focus on the on-treatment patient.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Cox JD (1999) Oncology at the end of the century. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 45(5):1095–1096

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Suh JH (2010) Stereotactic radiosurgery for the management of brain metastases. N Engl J Med 362(12):1119–1127

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Giraud P, Yorke E, Jiang S et al (2006) Reduction of organ motion effects in IMRT and conformal 3D radiation delivery by using gating and tracking techniques. Cancer Radiother 10(5):269–282

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Emami B, Lyman J, Brown A et al (1991) Tolerance of normal tissue to therapeutic irradiation. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 21(1):109–122

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Marks LB, Ten Haken RK, Martel MK (2010) Guest editor’s introduction to QUANTEC: a users guide. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 76(3 Suppl):S1–S2

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Pennsylvania, 3400 Civic Center Boulevard, TRC 2 West, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA

    Abigail T. Berman, John P. Plastaras & Neha Vapiwala

Authors
  1. Abigail T. Berman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. John P. Plastaras
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Neha Vapiwala
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Abigail T. Berman.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Berman, A.T., Plastaras, J.P. & Vapiwala, N. Radiation Oncology: a Primer for Medical Students. J Canc Educ 28, 547–553 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13187-013-0501-1

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13187-013-0501-1

Keywords

Search

Navigation