Radiation therapy

Abstract

Radiation therapy is an essential treatment modality for local, regional, and metastatic cancer management. This chapter provides a general overview of the field of radiation oncology. We discuss the underlying radiobiologic principles of the field and highlight the innovations in technology and advances in oncology and cancer biology that have influenced modern radiation therapy. We outline the logistics of radiation planning, quality assurance, and daily treatment delivery. We then review the diverse application of radiation within numerous disease sites, including head and neck, lung, gynecologic, breast, gastrointestinal, melanoma, and oligometastatic cancers. We describe the ways in which radiation serves as critical adjunctive therapy and define clinical settings in which radiation is a viable treatment option fordefinitive locoregional management.