Successful clinical use of intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) represents a significant advance in radiation oncology. Because IMRT can deliver high-dose radiation to a target with a reduced dose to the surrounding organs, it can improve the local control rate and reduce toxicities associated with radiation therapy. Since IMRT began being used in the mid-1990s, a large volume of clinical evidence of the advantages of IMRT has been collected. However, treatment planning and quality assurance (QA) of IMRT are complicated and difficult for the clinician and the medical physicist. This book, by authors renowned for their expertise in their fields, provides cumulative clinical evidence and appropriate techniques for IMRT for the clinician and the physicist. Part I deals with the foundations and techniques, history, principles, QA, treatment planning, radiobiology and related aspects of IMRT. Part II covers clinical applications with several case studies, describing contouring and dose distribution with clinical results along with descriptions of indications and a review of clinical evidence for each tumor site. The information presented in this book serves as a valuable resource for the practicing clinician and physicist.

Lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer-related death in men, and in women, it has surpassed even breast cancer. According to the American Cancer Society, in 2001, there will be about 169,500 new cases of lung cancer in the United States: 90,700 among men and 78,800 among women. LUNG CANCER is the second installment in the M. D. Anderson Cancer Care Series, featuring the current standard approach to lung cancer care from the experts at M. D. Anderson Cancer Center. Designed for the practicing oncologist, this clinical guidebook allows for quick, authoritative access to the latest and best multimodality therapies. Topics covered in this volume include the clinical examination of patients with suspected lung cancer, thoracic imaging techniques for non-small cell and small cell lung cancer, pathology of lung cancer, treatment and management of non-small and small-cell lung cancer, including the role of guidelines and clinical pathways, molecular events in lung cancer and implications for prevention and therapy, palliation, and much more. Each of the 15 chapters ends with an up-to-date list of suggested readings, as well as "key practice points" highlighting the most important principles and practices of each chapter for at-a-glance reference. Over 50 illustrations and 40 tables round out the text. This thorough, practical volume is the essential clinical guide for oncologists, surgeons, and all physicians involved in the care of patients with lung cancer.

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in the United States, but IGRT (image guided radiation therapy) offers the possibility of more aggressive and enhanced treatments. The only available source on the subject that emphasizes new imaging techniques, and provides step-by-step treatment guidelines for lung cancer, this source helps clinicians locate and target tumors with enhanced speed, improve the accuracy of radiation delivery, and correctly target cancerous masses while avoiding surrounding structures. Edited by radiation oncology experts from the renowned M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, this guide: focuses on novel approaches using IGRT, particularly PET/CT, SPECT, 4-D CT, stereotactic body radiation therapy, IMRT and proton radiotherapy, and offers expert guidance on the dose, fractionation, target volume delineation (including recommended margins with and without respiratory gating based on our new 4-D CT study), and normal tissue tolerances stands as the first step-by-step guide for radiation oncologists to implement new image-guided techniques into their day-to-day clinical practice, and considers the practical issues of implementing these approaches into their routine helps clinicians use imaging technologies to detect changes in tumor size, shape, position, or metabolism over a course of radiotherapy treatment provides disease stage-specific treatment guidelines and clearly lays out imaging techniques serves as roadmap for future research and development