Edited and Reviewed by: Timothy James Kinsella, Brown University, United States
*Correspondence: Amirhosein Kefayat,
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In recent years, radiotherapy has played a critical role for cancer patients’ treatment. Recently different radiotherapy methods have emerged and different studies have tried to maximize their efficacy while limiting their disadvantage (
Radiotherapy always has been a well-known treatment options for esophageal cancer patients who are not candidates for surgery. Two methods of radiation therapy including, involved field irradiation (IFI) and elective nodal irradiation (ENI) has been widely investigated for esophageal cancer. elective lymph node irradiation (ENI) aim is to irradiate to an area that has not been metastasized to decrease chance of metastasis formation which can improve local area control but did not improve overall survival (OS). On the other hand, ENI can increase risk of treatment-related adverse events. IFI irradiates only the affected area to limit the area of irradiation. According to the metanalysis published in our Research Topic (
Stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) has been employed as a deeply effective treatment modality for lung cancer which not only can deliver precise radiation dose to the tumor site but also offer minimal damage to surrounding healthy tissues (
This motion issue during fractions of radiation therapy has been mentioned for different tumors especially in the respiratory and gastrointestinal system while knowledge methods have introduced to solve this problem. Accurate monitoring of intrafraction tumor motion is an option for ensuring precise radiation dose delivery during radiotherapy and recent studies have investigated the accuracy of ultrasound tracking for monitoring tumor motion in real-time in pancreas tumor. Researcher demonstrated that ultrasound tracking exhibits high accuracy in tracking tumor motion and ultrasound tracking may represent a potential method for real-time monitoring of targets during radiotherapy, facilitating more accurate delivery of radiation doses and improving treatment outcomes for patients with pancreatic cancer and other tumors which move during irradiation and ultrasonography is possible for their traction (
Proton pencil beam scanning (PBS) transmission has gained a lot of interest as a potential treatment modality for lung cancer as it exhibits high toxicity-sparing effects and improved treatment outcomes. Plan quality and robustness of proton PBS transmission FLASH delivery in lung cancer treatment has been a hot topic so far for research studies. In this Research Topic we found out that while transmission plans have yielded slightly inferior plan quality compared to conventional proton SBRT plans, they have demonstrated improved robustness and potential for toxicity-sparing effects. By employing more beams, both dose and dose-rate robustness for transmission plans can be achieved, offering promising prospects for enhancing treatment efficacy and minimizing treatment-related adverse events in lung cancer patients (
In conclusion, the evolution of radiotherapy in recent years has been instrumental in advancing cancer treatment options. As highlighted in this editorial letter, various radiotherapy methods have emerged, each with its unique strengths and challenges. From the promising outcomes of IFI in esophageal cancer to the challenges of managing intrafraction motion in SBRT for lung cancer, researchers continue to innovate and refine treatment strategies. Additionally, the potential of ultrasound tracking and proton pencil beam scanning (PBS) transmission offers further avenues for improving treatment outcomes and minimizing adverse events. Overall, these advancements underscore the ongoing commitment to enhancing radiotherapy efficacy while prioritizing patient care and safety.
AK: Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Software, Supervision, Validation, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing. MB: Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Software, Supervision, Validation, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing. MK: Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Software, Supervision, Validation, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing. FG: Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Software, Supervision, Validation, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing.
The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
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