The field of radiation oncology has undergone tremendous transformations in recent years and become a prime example of precision medicine making a significant difference for cancer patients, not just in survival outcomes, but in better post-treatment quality of life.i It seems, however, that the world hasn’t caught on to this. Attitudes towards this now-very-tailored, effective, and even cost-effectiveii approach to cancer care remain mired in historical perceptions that no longer pertain.
This issue was highlighted early in 2024 in an analysis of news reports that found that there has been a growing negative sentiment in the media toward radiation oncology.iii
In his blog entitled If Radiation Were a Drug…, author Mark Storey, MD, radiation oncologist and former Medical Director at the Oklahoma Proton Center, notes the negativity swirling around the field of radiation oncology and suggests that radiation oncology professionals themselves may be partially responsible because of a reticence to promote the amazing advances that have revolutionized the field.
“Fortunately, I see the tide shifting,” he goes on to say. “I think we are demonstrating massive progress for oncology patients and unifying around the understanding that we’ll be a short, efficient, super-high value addition for many oncology patients. We are moving quickly, in many treatment indications, towards a non-invasive alternative to surgery,” he added. “We can overcome this.”iv
At Varian, we agree with Dr. Storey. Today, radiation oncology has become a highly personalized form of cancer care, every bit as tailored and specific to the patient as surgery might be.
“At Varian and Siemens Healthineers, it’s our obligation to develop solutions designed to not only enhance personalization at every point along the cancer care journey, but also to make those processes simpler, more automated, and easier to accomplish, all in an effort to enhance patient outcomes.”
- Arthur Kaindl, Head of Varian.”
“At Varian and Siemens Healthineers, it’s our obligation to develop solutions designed to not only enhance personalization at every point along the cancer care journey, but also to make those processes simpler, more automated, and easier to accomplish, all in an effort to enhance patient outcomes,” said Arthur Kaindl, Head of Varian. “We have been working for decades to empower clinical teams by improving precision at each step of the patient journey.”
This year, Varian’s annual insert in the ASTRO supplement of the International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology, Physics (the Red Journal), outlines some of the ways Varian teams have been working with colleagues across Siemens Healthineers—partners in imaging, diagnostics, healthcare IT, interventional radiology, and other specialties—to develop solutions that are designed to enhance personalization at every point along the cancer care journey, with the ultimate goal of enhancing patient outcomes. It’s a story we are determined to tell to push the pendulum in the right direction, as Dr. Storey exhorts us all to do.
- Jaffray DA, Knaul F, Baumann M, Gospodarowicz M. Harnessing progress in radiotherapy for global cancer control. Nat Cancer. 2023 Sep;4(9):1228-1238. doi: 10.1038/s43018-023-00619-7. Epub 2023 Sep 25. PMID: 37749355.
- May Abdel-Wahab et al., Global Radiotherapy: Current Status and Future Directions—White Paper. JCO Glob Oncol 7, 827-842(2021). https://ascopubs.org/doi/10.1200/GO.21.00029.
- Wawrzuta D, Klejdysz J, Chojnacka M. The rise of negative portrayals of radiation oncology: A textual analysis of media news. Radiotherapy and Oncology 2024;190:11008. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.radonc.2023.110008.
- Storey M. If Radiation Were a Drug… Protons 101, 2023 Dec 10. https://protons101.substack.com/p/if-radiation-were-a-drug.