Pediatric Radiotherapy Planning and Treatment

By becoming knowledgeable about optimal treatment methods designed specifically for childhood cancers, members of a radiotherapy team can help improve both pediatric cancer survival statistics and patients’ quality of life. Pediatric Radiotherapy Planning and Treatment is the first single, focused resource available for health care providers to accurately plan and deliver radiation therapy to children. The first section of the book discusses the statistics of pediatric cancer incidence and survival. It also reviews the literature on radiation-induced secondary malignancies, addressing the use of intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) in children. The second section presents disease-specific chapters. Each chapter in this section gives a clinical overview of the disease, describes treatment planning and delivery concepts and guidance, and surveys late effects and organ tolerance doses. Many of the techniques presented can be readily translated to any radiotherapy department. The book also explores the historical background underpinning current treatment paradigms, which reveals the tremendous creativity of radiation oncologists and physicists in addressing difficult treatment dilemmas. Medical physicists, dosimetrists, radiation oncologists, and others in a pediatric radiotherapy team must understand pediatric cancers and know how to accurately and safely implement optimal treatments to minimize late effects and maximize the chance for cure or palliation. The methods and clinical background in this book help these health care providers—even those with no formal training in pediatric radiotherapy—recognize the differences between pediatric cancers and adult cancers and then design and administer an appropriate treatment plan.