Adaptive Radiation Therapy Could Be the Answer for Future Cancer Treatment

Throughout history dating back to the early 1970’s patients diagnosed with cancer would receive standard treatment plans that would simply be based off the type of cancer, the stage of aggression and if it was characterized by spreading to other locations or not. Cancer development teams quickly learned that this procedure was not an efficient process for treatment. A cancer cure is not a one size fits all and each patient is unique so why should their treatment be any different? One form of radiation treatment that is showing progress and good promise for the future is called adaptive therapy. This type of treatment takes a personalized approach where a patient’s unique characteristics are taken into consideration and adjustments are constantly being done based on information taken from images that are taken daily so factors like tumor size, shape, and location will be targeting more efficiently. On the downside, adaptive therapy has many obstacles that are needed to overcome before this treatment can be a successful option. In this article, it is discussed further on which steps will need to be taken for adaptive therapy to continue to progress to its potential. It may not a perfect treatment method currently, but it represents something bigger for the future of healthcare and personalized abilities.