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Northeast Florida Medicine
Vol. 67, No. 1 2016
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Palliative Care
use a single device to provide higher quality individualized
treatments than the historical standards. This also comes at
a fraction of the cost and with a much smaller investment
in staffing and departmental space needs. Hopefully, the
ability and inherent cost to accurately target and deliver
therapy will plummet as technology advances. In terms of
the biotechnology, radiation therapy continues to pursue
advances in the fields of radiosensitization, radioprotection
and co-targeting of malignant tissues. See Figure 5 as an
example of a modern linear accelerator.
Conclusion
Over the last several decades, radiation therapy has
proven to have a large positive impact upon the quality of
life of oncologic patients requiring palliative interventions.
Moreover, early referral to a palliative care specialist has
demonstrated improved survival and decreased depression
rates while avoiding futile care at the end of life.
38
Joint ef-
forts with palliative care specialists will continue to evaluate
techniques to minimize radiation side effects and improve
outcomes for patients receiving palliative radiotherapy. As
in all studies, the true endpoints will be improving quality
of life and extending median survival.
v
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Figure 5:
Modern Linear Accelerator with fully integrated CT Image Guidance
Radiation Therapy (IGRT), Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy
(IMRT) and Volumetric Modulated Arc Therapy (VMAT).
Figure 3:
Figure 4: