Nanoparticles are all the flavour in the literature.However applications of this technology in our field are very difficult to find.The ability to target the tumor cells accurately and reproducibly is perhaps the great challenge in radiation oncology,however the power of small is presently increasingly being used to target the tumor cells(1).How does this impact our practise in the days to come.Will nanoparticle aided imaging and therapeutic modalities be the future of cancer therapy(2) and are we in forefront of this future?
The use of particle therapy is also increasingly getting popular the world over(3).Will particles ever ring the death knell for photons?Or is this a quantum state where both will coexist .
Then the eternal question:is radioactive isotope based therapy-Co-60 on the way out .Is the future in X-rays only .What is the future of cobalt therapy(4)(tomotherapy).And with cyberknife,Rapid Arc,IGRT-cone beam,Kv,Linac based tomotherapy etc what is the future of radiation oncology
A few random reads for those in the mood:
1.Isolation of rare circulating tumour cells in cancer patients by microchip technology Letter in Nature 450, 1235-1239 (20 December 2007)
2.Cancer Nanotechnology:Opportunities and challenges:Mauro Ferrari:Nature Review cancer;Vol5 (Mar 2005):161-171
3.Maximum proton kinetic energy and patient-generated neutron fluence considerations in proton beam arc delivery radiation therapy
Med. Phys. Volume 36, Issue 2, pp. 364-372 (February 2009)
4. Practical and clinical considerations in Cobalt-60 tomotherapy.Chandra P Joshi, Sandeep Dhanesar, Johnson Darko, Andrew Kerr, PB Vidyasagar, L John Schreiner.2009 :34 (3);137-140
The views expressed here are merely the waves on the surface of the sea-the tsunami is beneath the surface.