ESTRO Toolkit for Radiation Oncology Advocacy in Europe

Key advocacy messages and resources

Safety of radiation oncology

Misperceptions regarding the toxicity of radiation oncology may contribute to its under-valuation among health policymakers and the public. ESTRO recommends the following key messages regarding the safety of radiation oncology.

Radiation oncology is a safe, high-quality, tailored treatment approach that is individualised for each patient. State-of-the-art radiation oncology precisely targets the patient’s tumour with the lowest effective dose, minimising radiation effect on the surrounding healthy tissue. Examples: • Intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) precisely varies the intensity of multiple radiation beams to better conform the delivered dose to the target and protect healthy tissue. • 4-dimensional (4-D) radiation oncology shapes the radiation beams to the moving tumour and ensures that the target is selectively hit even when it moves as the patient breathes. • Image-guided radiotherapy (IGRT) allows very precise targeting of the defined tumour, by using smaller margins of healthy tissues as part of the target to be treated. It reduces treatment toxicity, spares the surrounding normal tissue from receiving doses above specified dose tolerances, and ensures daily accuracy. Radiation oncology centres operate strict safety and quality assurance (QA) frameworks to ensure that treatment is as effective, safe and well tolerated as possible. Radiation oncology benefits from being highly acceptable for patients, owing to its limited invasiveness and organ-sparing potential compared with surgery in many different situations (e.g. breast, glottis, limbs and prostate).

KEY ADVOCACY MESSAGES AND RESOURCES

IMPLEMENTING A RADIATION ONCOLOGY ADVOCACY CAMPAIGN

UNMET NEEDS