Rationale and Historical Perspective of Intraoperative Irradiation

Abstract

Most of the major advances in clinical applications of radiation therapy in the treatment of cancer have been due to differences in dose distribution between tumor and dose-limiting normal tissue. For most tumor types, the likelihood of obtaining local tumor control improves if irradiation doses delivered to the tumor mass can be safely increased. However, in many clinical situations, the dose which can be delivered safely to the tumor volume is limited by the normal tissues which are in close proximity to the tumor volume.