Radiotherapy for liver cancer

Abstract

In recent years, radiotherapy for liver cancer has accomplished much technical progress. The history of radiotherapy for liver cancer shows an endeavor to overcome the problem of how to raise the irradiation dose to lesions while suppressing the unnecessary irradiation dose to normal liver tissue. With the appearance of treatment using X-ray radiotherapy represented by three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy, stereotactic body radiotherapy and particle beam therapy using proton beams and carbon ion beams, radiotherapy has become a safe and effective treatment option for liver cancers.