Recent advances of radiotherapy for cancer. Stereotactic radiotherapy and intensity modulated radiotherapy

Recent advances of radiotherapy are rapid. Stereotactic irradiation elevated the level of accuracy of radiotherapy technique extremely. The progress of computer fed 3-D irradiation technique rapidly. Although conformal radiation therapy is an excellent 3-D radiation method, it can only make a convex radiation field because intensity of radiation fields is homogeneous at every point. Intensity modulated radiotherapy is able to make any shape of radiation field including concave shape by means of changing the intensity of radiation fields intentionally. As a result, frequency of complication by radiotherapy is decreasing, and outcomes of radiotherapy are highly improved because of the escalation of radiation dose. The usefulness of radiation therapy for cancer is now increasing. (author)