Dr. Liauw on RT Advancements in Prostate Cancer

Stanley Liauw, MD, associate professor at the University of Chicago Medicine, discusses the advancements in radiation therapy (RT) over the last several years, and how he has seen the treatment affect his patients.

There have been several innovations with prostate cancer in the last 20 years, mainly with improvements in hardware and software, Liauw explains. Previously, radiation oncologists would affix lead blocks to the heads of linear accelerators. Over time, developments allowed oncologists to reshape fields and have multiple field shapes through a beam angle to deliver a more sophisticated RT plan to patients.

In practice, Liauw has observed improvements in disease control rates and quality of life, as well as decreases in prostate-specific antigen failures.