| REVIEW ARTICLE |
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| Year : 2016 | Volume
: 7
| Issue : 2 | Page : 37-41 |
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Intensity-modulated radiotherapy in head and neck cancers: In which direction are we heading?
Punita Lal, Mranalini Verma, KJ Maria Das, Shaleen Kumar
Department of Radiotherapy, Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India
Correspondence Address:
Mranalini Verma
Department of Radiotherapy, Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh
India
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None  | Check |
DOI: 10.4103/0973-0168.191702
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Radiotherapy (RT) is one of the treatment modalities, which most of the time used in the treatment of most head and neck cancers with/without chemotherapy either as a definitive treatment or adjuvant/postoperated or for symptoms palliation, but it is always accompanied by late sequelae such as xerostomia and dysphagia. These two major sequelae have a significant effect on patient's quality of life even after cure of disease. However, with the advancement of modern techniques such as intensity-modulated RT (IMRT) which effectively spares the parotid glands has a significant effect, proven in randomized trials, for xerostomia as well as dysphagia. IMRT to spare dysphagia and aspiration related structure ( DARSs) has also been studied extensively. To improve the results further, nowadays, we focus on use of functional imaging at the time of RT planning and/or use of image guidance for the adaptation during RT treatment as well as focus on to reduce neurocognition effects of treatment by sparing brain.
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