The Need
There are pockets of interest in benign RT, but there are no international societies dedicated to the use of radiation for the treatment of benign conditions, until now.
Radiation Oncology is well served globally by ESTRO (European), ASTRO (US) and other national societies. ESTRO is focused on radiotherapy for cancer and state in their recent strategy document: “Whilst it is recognised that non-oncology indications for radiation therapy may expand with time, the formal inclusion of ‘‘oncology” in the vision statement highlights that the core indications for radiation therapy, hence the focus of our discipline, remain in oncology.” ASTRO also focuses on radiation oncology and cancer patients, and does not explicitly mention radiation for non-cancer conditions
The take-up for different conditions and in different countries is highly variable. There are a number of reasons for this, which include:
- Lack of knowledge amongst radiation specialists. Additionally, the specialists are termed “radiation oncologists”, implicitly discouraging the use of RT for benign conditions
- Nationally mandated allocation of radiotherapy resources to cancer
- Fear of radiation-induced cancer
- Growing numbers of alternative treatments for benign conditions
- Lack of funding available for benign radiotherapy treatments in many healthcare systems
- Lack of high-quality research in the field
- Lack of a centralised group to educate and lobby for these treatments
This has resulted in:
- A decline in the use of RT for benign conditions
- A lack of knowledge and awareness about its use
- A lack of support from public and private funding bodies for the treatment and funding of research into this area
- A lack of training
- A lack of publicly accessible publications
