Advanced-technology radiation therapy in the management of bone and soft tissue sarcomas.

BACKGROUND: For patients with sarcomas, radiotherapy can be used as neoadjuvant, adjuvant, or primary local therapy, depending on the site and type of sarcoma, the surgical approach, and the efficacy of chemotherapy.

METHODS: The authors review the current status of advanced technology radiation therapy in the management of bone and soft tissue sarcoma.

RESULTS: Advances in radiotherapy have resulted in improved treatment for bone and soft tissue sarcomas. Intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) uses modifications in the intensity of the photon-beam from a linear accelerator across the irradiated fields to enhance dose conformation in three dimensions. For proton-beam radiation therapy, the nuclei of hydrogen atoms are accelerated in cyclotrons or synchrotrons, extracted, and transported to treatment rooms where the proton beam undergoes a series of modifications that conform the dose in a particular patient to the tumor target. Brachytherapy and intraoperative radiation therapy have generally been used to treat microscopic residual disease in patients with sarcomas. These technologies deliver dose to tumor cells with irradiation of limited volumes of normal tissue. Patients who may benefit from technically advanced radiotherapy include those with skull base and spine/paraspinal sarcomas, Ewing's sarcoma, and retroperitoneal/extremity sarcomas.

CONCLUSIONS: Advances in radiation therapy technology, particularly IMRT, proton-beam or other charged-particle radiation therapy, brachytherapy, and intraoperative radiation therapy, have led to improved treatment for patients with bone and soft tissue sarcomas.