Introduction
The decision to use radiotherapy (RT) in cancer treatment depends on many factors such as:
- Type of cancer
- Efficacy of other modalities - chemotherapy and (or) surgery may be sufficient alone
- Patient’s general health
- Local and distant extent of disease
These same considerations apply to surgical resection and chemotherapy.
All of these modalities may be used together or alone.
Tumor management decisions require a MULTIDISCIPLINARY APPROACH.
Each patient should be individually assessed by a team of specialists.
For many pediatric cancers chemotherapy may be sufficient alone. However, radiotherapy (with or without surgery) can be used to ensure local control (make sure that the tumor does not come back where it started).
There are two main categories of radiation treatments :-
- Radical - Attempt to cure disease.
- Palliative - To relieve symptoms - not expected to cure disease.
The University of Toronto have created a web-site so that medical students can find out more about Radiation Oncology as a specialty: Virtual Experience in Radiation Oncology
