The Faculty of Clinical Oncology of the Royal College of Radiologists published a comprehensive review on evidence-base Radiotherapy Dose Fractionation in December 2016.
This second edition is an update of their 2006 report, and gives an excellent overview of the data in support of external beam dose and fractionation for a variety of the commonly treated diagnoses.
The sections on bone metastases, brain metastases, oligo-metastases and spinal cord compression make for particularly interesting reading.
They have also included guidelines for Paediatric Radiation Oncology that may be of interest to those involved in this specialised area.
The role of IMRT coupled with rigorous image guidance using fiducial markers or cone beam CT for radical treatments has been included in this version. SBRT and other advanced technologies like helical tomography are also discussed.
The use of single fraction or short hypofractionated regimens in the palliative setting is highlighted.
The other major change in from the 2006 document is that hypofractionation guidelines have been included for adjuvant breast cancer but also curative head and neck and prostate cancer based on UK-based clinical trials.
All evidence is graded according to the Oxford Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine guidelines.
This document stands as an excellent companion piece to the RCR’s 2015 review of the use of radiotherapy for the treatment of benign tumours and clinical conditions that ICON Oncology previously endorsed and circulated to the ICON Network last year.
The ICON Clinical Team is glad to see that our Treatment Protocols for radiotherapy stand up to this highly recommended, evidence-based document.
As always, we would welcome your feedback or thoughts on this document.
