Medical imaging progressed to a standard undreamt of not
very many years ago. The advances are due to continuous
development of radiological techniques and the introduction
of magnetic resonance imaging.
With the improved and new methods three-dimensional target
volumes for radiation therapy can be defined with hitherto
unknown precision. This leads to an improvement in
irradiation techniques and, as a consequence, to a higher
likelihood of tumor control and a lower risk of normal
tissue complications.
Besides the improvement in irradiation techniques the new
imaging methods may enable great strides in tumor response
monitoring, not only in the detection of morphological
alterations but also by showing physiological changes in the
tumor during and after treatment by means of MRI and PET.
This not only leads to better prognostic information but may
also allow early evaluation of the response to treatment.
It may then be possible to individualize the radiation dose
but also the alternative-treatment for non-responders.
This is certainly a future direction for radiation oncology.