Читать книгу Advances in Radiation Therapy - Группа авторов - Страница 43

Especially in fast-responding tumors, accelerated repopulation should be considered in the treatment design. Practically, specifically for head-and-neck squamous cell, and non-small-cell and small-cell lung cancer, this risk of repopulation during the treatment course is known [48]. In case of a longer treatment time, in these cancers accelerated repopulation plays a more prominent role and reduces the effectiveness of the radiotherapy. In this situation, tumor cell kill due to radiotherapy is attenuated by accelerated repopulation. In order to increase the treatment response by limiting the effect of accelerated repopulation, different approaches, such as accelerated radiotherapy or radiotherapy combined with another therapy, e.g., cetuximab, have been suggested. Since these are all at the cost of increased side effects [16], careful patient selection for this treatment modification is crucial. Imaging of proliferation, or accelerated repopulation, has the potency to select those patients or patient groups that require an intensified treatment, and could thereby contribute to an improved treatment outcome.