A general objective in the treatment of cancer is to eradicate the tumour cells without inducing severe complications in healthy normal tissue. The use of light ions for radiation therapy increases the possibility to deliver tumour suicidal doses almost without normal tissue injury, not least in cases where the target is unresectable, radio resistant and located near organs at risk. The success...

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) continues to be a difficult therapeutic challenge. Our study was conducted to determine whether improved survival and tumor control could be achieved with modern delivery of fast neutron radiation using three-dimensional treatment planning. Ten patients were enrolled. Eligibility criteria included pathologic diagnosis of GBM, age >or=18 years, and KPS >or=60. Patie...

The increased utilisation of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in radiation therapy (RT) has led to the implementation of MRI simulators for RT treatment planning and influenced the development of MRI-guided treatment systems. There is extensive literature on the advantages of MRI for tumour volume and organ-at-risk delineation compared to computed tomography. MRI provides both anatomical and fu...

Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among women in the United States. Approximately half of all patients diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer receive conservative breast surgery followed by consolidative radiation treatment. A number of technologic advances have been made in radiation therapy planning and treatment that minimize early and late toxicities and may improve trea...

Significant evidence emerging in the spinal oncology literature recommends radiosurgery as a primary modality of treatment of spinal metastasis. Improvements in the methods of delivering radiation have increased the ability to provide a higher and more exacting dose of radiation to a tumor bed than previously. Using treatment-planning software, radiation is contoured around a specific lesion wi...

An inherent goal of radiation therapy is to deliver enough dose to the tumor to eradicate all cancer cells or to palliate symptoms, while avoiding normal tissue injury. Imaging for cancer diagnosis, staging, treatment planning, and radiation targeting has been integrated in various ways to improve the chance of this occurring. A large spectrum of imaging strategies and technologies has evolved ...

Historically, Radiation Therapy (RT) has played a minor role in the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma, especially because of toxicity related to conventional techniques. However, high radiation doses can now be given safely by means of 3D-conformal techniques and other more specialized techniques. 3D-conformal RT, in which both target definition and treatment planning are based on three-dim...

For some decades radiation therapy has been proved successful in cancer treatment. It is the major task of clinical radiation treatment planning to realise on the one hand a high level dose of radiation in the cancer tissue in order to obtain maximum tumour control. On the other hand it is obvious that it is absolutely necessary to keep in the tissue outside the tumour, particularly in organs a...

Introduction: Despite growing interest in the use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in the external radiotherapy design process (RT), Computer Tomography (CT) remains a gold standard and is regarded as a basic imaging modality in radiotherapy. MRI shows the high contrast in soft tissues without any radiation exposure to patients. As a result, MRI is used in functional tissue ...