Onkologie. 2024:18(2):137-141 | DOI: 10.36290/xon.2024.025

Adverse effects of radiotherapy and radiobiological modelling

Zdeňka Pechačová¹, Radka Lohynská², Tomáš Kořínek^{3, 4}, Tereza Drbohlavová¹, Miloslav Pála¹

¹ Ústav radiační onkologie, 1. LF UK a Fakultní nemocnice Bulovka, Praha

² Onkologická klinika, 1. LF UK a Fakultní Thomayerovy nemocnice, Praha

³ Státní ústav radiační ochrany, v. v. i., Praha

⁴ Ústřední vojenská nemocnice - Vojenská fakultní nemocnice, Praha

Radiotherapy is one of the most effective modalities of cancer treatment, however its application is associated with the risk of adverse effects. When planning radiation treatment, it is essential to spare the surrounding healthy tissues as much as possible to ensure an acceptable risk of toxicity and to maintain a good quality of life for patients. Radiation side effects result from diverse pathophysiological mechanisms and their severity is modulated by a variety of biological and clinical factors, as well as the applied dose, the size of the irradiated volume, radiomic characteristics or individual radiosensitivity. Based on these parameters, the risk of developing adverse effects of radiotherapy can be predicted by different methods. This paper offers a basic overview of the development mechanisms of radiation toxicity and the possibilities of predicting these effects by radiobiological tools - QUANTEC project, modelling based on EUD, NTCP and using artificial intelligence methods. Predictive models can strengthen the understanding of radiotherapy toxicity and in the future may contribute to individualize the treatment approach to maximize benefit and minimize toxicity.

Keywords: radiotherapy, adverse effects, radiobiology.

Accepted: April 19, 2024; Published: May 3, 2024  Show citation