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    A Brief History of Radiotherapy: Rachael Barton Consultant Clinical Oncologist

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    Patricio Alegre
    This document provides a brief history of radiotherapy from its discovery in the late 19th century to current practice. [1] Wilhelm Röntgen discovered X-rays in 1895 which led to their early medical use for diagnostics and the treatment of some cancers. [2] Advances in radiation sources and delivery allowed for the treatment of deeper tumors in the 1920s-1940s. [3] Continued technological developments since the 1950s have enabled more powerful and precise radiation treatments with improved imaging for planning and guidance.

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    A Brief History of Radiotherapy: Rachael Barton Consultant Clinical Oncologist

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    Patricio Alegre
    61 views31 pages
    This document provides a brief history of radiotherapy from its discovery in the late 19th century to current practice. [1] Wilhelm Röntgen discovered X-rays in 1895 which led to their early medical use for diagnostics and the treatment of some cancers. [2] Advances in radiation sources and delivery allowed for the treatment of deeper tumors in the 1920s-1940s. [3] Continued technological developments since the 1950s have enabled more powerful and precise radiation treatments with improved imaging for planning and guidance.

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    This document provides a brief history of radiotherapy from its discovery in the late 19th century to current practice. [1] Wilhelm Röntgen discovered X-rays in 1895 which led to their early medical use for diagnostics and the treatment of some cancers. [2] Advances in radiation sources and delivery allowed for the treatment of deeper tumors in the 1920s-1940s. [3] Continued technological developments since the 1950s have enabled more powerful and precise radiation treatments with improved imaging for planning and guidance.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    61 views31 pages

    A Brief History of Radiotherapy: Rachael Barton Consultant Clinical Oncologist

    Uploaded by

    Patricio Alegre
    This document provides a brief history of radiotherapy from its discovery in the late 19th century to current practice. [1] Wilhelm Röntgen discovered X-rays in 1895 which led to their early medical use for diagnostics and the treatment of some cancers. [2] Advances in radiation sources and delivery allowed for the treatment of deeper tumors in the 1920s-1940s. [3] Continued technological developments since the 1950s have enabled more powerful and precise radiation treatments with improved imaging for planning and guidance.

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    A Brief History of Radiotherapy

    Rachael Barton Consultant Clinical Oncologist

    Discovery of X-Rays

    Wilhelm Conrad Rntgen


    1845-1923

    Nobel Prize for Physics 1901 Experiment 8th Nov 1895 Generated X-Rays with cathode ray tube Published 28th Dec 1895

    Henri Becquerel 1852-1908 Demonstrated the spontaneous emission of nuclear radioactivity

    Naming of radioactivity
    Marie Curie 1867-1934
    born and educated in Poland studied in Paris

    Nobel Prize in physics 1903 shared with Henri Becquerel and Pierre Curie

    Nobel Prize in chemistry 1911 Discovered radium and polonium

    Ernest Rutherford 1871-1937 Nobel prize for chemistry 1908 Atomic theory

    Early medical uses of X-Rays


    Emil Grubbe 1875-1960
    Describes experimenting with Xray treatments while still a medical student (!) in 1896 Reports difficult to corroborate

    TREATMENT OF CERTAIN FORMS OF CANCER BY THE X-RAYS


    Francis H Williams MD JAMA 1901

    Williams is considered the father of diagnostic radiology in the USA

    It is well recognized that cancer is on the increase, and reliable statistics made in various countries and extending over periods of years prove that the rapidity of this increase is surprisingly great. Any method of successful treatment, even though it may be limited in its application to certain forms of this disease, will prove to be a great boon to humanity.

    Although I shall refer to but few of the cases I have treated. I hope to present enough to have the reader share my opinion, namely, that in the x-rays we have an agent which causes superficial external forms of cancer to heal; and this may be done without pain to the patient. (Cases of cured cancer of the skin and lip)

    Leopold Freund 1868-1943 Best documented case of early medical use of X-Rays

    Freund treated a large hairy naevus on the back of a 5 year old girl based on reports of hair loss in radiation workers Moist desquamation induced over 21 treatments of 2 hours each Hair loss was complete and permanent Follow up continued and patient was last seen aged 80 years with some scar formation but no evidence of second cancers

    Other pioneers
    Victor Despeignes reported a rapid improvement in a patient with advanced stomach cancer Hermann Gocht early use of radiation for 2 patients with advanced breast cancer G. Voigt reported the use of X-Rays to treat a man with advanced pharyngeal cancer. No technical details given

    Early years of radiotherapy

    Early uses of radiation largely in diagnostics

    Radium
    Extracted from Uranium ores All isotopes are highly radioactive Could be packaged into small applicators and placed near to a cancer Cervical cancer became curable Could only be produced in small amounts

    Early teleradiotherapy

    Used low voltage generation producing X-rays with little penetrating power Some success in treating superficial skin cancers

    1920s
    Gradual improvements in the energy of Xrays produced allowed the treatment of deeper sited cancers General Electric developed a 200kv machine in 1922 allowing cure of inoperable laryngeal cancer

    Between the wars


    Development of: science of radiobiology measurement of radiation Higher energy X-ray generation Radium therapy techniques

    Henri Coutard 1876-1950 Physician with interest in radiation Served in mobile X-ray unit in WWI Research in Radium Institute, Paris

    Animal and human experiments on the use of radiation Showed the importance of: Fractionation Use of filtered radiation Induction of skin and mucous membrane reaction

    By 1938

    1MV X-rays generated Manchester system described for the intracavitary insertion of radium for the treatment of cervical cancer

    1940s-50s
    Development of technology: Cobalt 60 machines in use in 1951 Drs Ginzton and Kaplan developed the first linear accelerator in 1952 Teletherapy able to treat deeper cancers 1953 Royal College of Radiologists founded

    one, two

    1960s onwards
    More powerful machines Developments in imaging Replacement of radium with safer alternatives

    1970s-80s

    Remote afterloading brachytherapy

    Imaging
    Godfrey Hounsfield 1919-2004 1972: CT scanner Nobel prize 1979

    CT scanning now routinely used for radiotherapy planning

    21st century
    Imaging PET-CT MRI EUS EBUS RT technique IMRT Tomotherapy Modern brachytherapy Gated radiotherapy Image guided RT Safe, effective brachytherapy Stereotactic radiotherapy

    Radiotherapy 1896-2011

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