Using a Robotic Stereotactic Radiation Treatment System for Re-Irradiation may be Safe and Effective

Abstract

With the advent of systematic treatment cancer patients are living longer. This has led to an increase in the number of local recurrences facing radiation oncologists. Among the salvage treatment strategies, re-irradiation has been used successfully [1-3] in addition to salvage chemotherapy and surgery [1,3]. The use of re-irradiation is limited because there is a substantial risk of re-irradiation to critical normal tissues [2]. Recent technological advance in stereotactic radiation treatment systems [2] has allowed safer and more effective use of re-irradiation. Among many other factors that may have contributed to the improvement of re-irradiation outcome, this paper limits its scope focusing on the key issues facing re-irradiation: