The series "Medical Radiology - Diagnostic Imaging and Radiation Oncology" is the successor to the well known "Encyclopedia of Medical RadiologyjHandbuch der medizinischen Radiologie". This international handbook with its unique compila­ tion of data in more than fifty volumes lags behind the fast developing knowledge in radiology today. "Medical Radiology" brings the state of the art on special topics in a timely fashion. The first volume of the series was "Lung cancer", edited by Scarantino. This volume "Innovation in Radiation Oncology", edited by H.R. Withers and L.J. Peters, presents data on the development of new therapeutic strategies in different oncologic diseases. 57 authors wrote 32 chapters covering a broad range of topics. The innovations are at various levels of development, but were all chosen with the practicing radiation oncologist in mind. Perhaps not all of the innovations will survive the test of time, others have now become well established standard procedure in some centers. Also discussed is the assessment of the effectiveness of standard treat­ ment and how it effects the quality of a patient's survival. The contributions have been grouped into 9 broad sections as outlined in the table of contents. We think the second volume, as the whole series, will provide valuable reading for the general community of radiation oncologists.

Inhalt

1 General Aspects.- 1.1 Quality of Treatment: An Overview of the Patterns of Care Study in Clinical Radiation Therapy.- 1.2 Predictive Assays.- 1.3 Quality of Survival.- 2 Conservation Therapy.- 2.1 Head and Neck.- 2.1.1 Functional Surgery and Radiotherapy in Head and Neck Cancer.- 2.1.2 Uveal Melanoma: Conservative Treatment with Radiation Therapy.- 2.2 Breast.- 2.1.1 Conservative Therapy for Breast Cancer.- 2.2.2 Responses to Treatment and Quality of Life After Radiation Therapy for Breast Cancer.- 2.3 Soft Tissue Sarcoma.- 2.3.1 UCLA Combined Modality Limb Salvage Protocols for Soft Tissue Sarcomas.- 2.3.2 M.D. Anderson Hospital Experience.- 2.4 Rectum and Anal Canal.- 2.4.1 Conservative Management of Cancer of the Rectum.- 2.4.2 Treatment of Cancer of the Anal Canal.- 3 Extended Field Therapy.- 3.1 Total Body Irradiation for Bone Marrow Transplantation.- 3.2 Influence of Radiation Regimens on the Risk of Interstitial Pneumonitis in Leukemia Patients Treated with Allogeneic Bone Marrow Transplantation.- 3.3 Total Lymphoid Irradiation for Immunosuppression.- 3.4 Half Body Radiotherapy.- 3.5 Targeted Radionuclides.- 4 Restricted Field Therapy.- 4.1 Intraoperative Radiotherapy.- 4.2 Precision Pencil-Beam Radiation Therapy for Pituitary Adenomas.- 4.3 Stereotaxic Interstitial Brachytherapy for Malignant Brain Tumors.- 4.4 Photodynamic Therapy.- 5 New Imaging Technologies and Radiotherapy.- 5.1 CT in Radiation Therapy Treatment Planning.- 5.2 The Potential Application of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) in Radiation Oncology.- 5.3 Applications of Positron Emission Tomography (PET) in Tumor Management.- 6 Modified Fractionation.- 6.1 Hyperfractionation.- 6.2 Accelerated Fractionation.- 6.3 Accelerated Hyperfractionation.- 7 Drugs and Radiation.- 7.1 Sensitizers in Radiotherapy.- 7.2 Optimizing Combinations of Drugs and Radiation. The Interdigitated Alternating Regimen.- 8 Neutrons.- 8.1 Fast Neutron Therapy: Problems and Promise.- 9 Adjunctive Therapies.- 9.1 Externally Induced Hyperthermia.- 9.2 Interstitial Hyperthermia.- 9.3 Internal Fixation and Irradiation for Bone Metastases.