Radiotherapy for pediatric tumors

Abstract

As well as surgery and chemotherapy, radiotherapy plays an important role in the treatment of pediatric tumors. There are many tumors that are particularly sensitive to radiotherapy in the field of pediatrics, and radiotherapy plays an important role in multidisciplinary treatment. However, growing children are sensitive to radiotherapy, requiring attention to adverse events. Also, it is necessary to consider adverse events specific to children, such as growth and developmental disorders and secondary cancers. To smoothly carry out radiotherapy without giving a sense of fear, collaboration of various types of work is required. The University of Tsukuba Hospital has been working on proton therapy for pediatric tumors since the 1980s. On the basis of our experiences, we will comment on radiotherapy for pediatric tumors.