40 years of radiobiology: its impact on radiotherapy. (Eighteenth Douglas Lea Lecture)
- 1 February 1984
- journal article
- Published by IOP Publishing in Physics in Medicine & Biology
- Vol. 29 (2) , 97-113
- https://doi.org/10.1088/0031-9155/29/2/002
Abstract
The contributions of radiobiology to radiotherapy in the past 40 years are reviewed, taking the work of Gray and Read (1942) on bean roots with high LET radiation as the starting point. The main impact has been strategic and didactic because methods of measuring parameters in patients so as to affect individual treatments have not yet been developed. Many patients are now being treated with radiotherapy who would have been considered unsuitable 40 years ago and the radiobiological reasons for these changes are discussed. Improvements that have occurred in radiotherapy are reviewed and some projections about future potential improvements are made.Keywords
This publication has 32 references indexed in Scilit:
- Dose fractionation, dose rate and iso-effect relationships for normal tissue responsesInternational Journal of Radiation Oncology*Biology*Physics, 1982
- Local tumor control and the subsequent incidence of distant metastatic diseaseInternational Journal of Radiation Oncology*Biology*Physics, 1981
- Conformation therapy at the Royal Free Hospital. A progress report on the tracking cobalt projectThe British Journal of Radiology, 1981
- A computer-controlled radiation therapy machine for pelvic and para-aortic nodal areasInternational Journal of Radiation Oncology*Biology*Physics, 1981
- Hyperbaric oxygen: the Medical Research Council trials and their clinical significanceThe British Journal of Radiology, 1978
- Developments in radiotherapy other than heavy particle beamsInternational Journal of Radiation Oncology*Biology*Physics, 1977
- Changes in the rate of repopulation during multifraction irradiation of mouse skinThe British Journal of Radiology, 1973
- Clinical dose-response curves of human malignant epithelial tumoursThe British Journal of Radiology, 1973
- The relationship between the ‘cell loss factor’ and the immediate response to radiation in animal tumoursPublished by Elsevier ,1972
- Dose, time and fractionation: A clinical hypothesisClinical Radiology, 1969