Ten years of progress in radiation oncology

On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of BMC Cancer, this mini-review will address major developments in the field of radiation oncology over the last decade. Important contributions published in this journal will be discussed.Radiation oncology is a cornerstone of modern multidisciplinary cancer treatment. It has a place in the management of most common types of cancer, either as a single modality and organ-preserving alternative to surgery, for example, in organ-confined prostate cancer, or as an element in a sequence of treatment steps, such as in adjuvant radiotherapy after breast-conserving surgery for breast cancer.From the launch of BMC Cancer, clinical and experimental contributions from radiation oncology and radiation biology have had a special place in this journal. The very first truly radiotherapy-related paper published in this journal on 19 June 2001, a meta-analysis by Meert et al. on the role of prophylactic cranial irradiation in small-cell lung cancer, was present on the most-viewed list of the journal for many years [1].Strategies to improve the outcome of radiotherapy have aimed to improve tumor control rates, thereby increasing the chances of a cure in radical or adjuvant therapy or to increase the rates of symptom response in palliative situations. At the same time, reduction of toxicity and late effects was also intended, for example, by lowering of radiation dose to normal tissues adjacent to the tumor target volumes.The availability and implementation of new technology as well as rigorous experimental, translational and clinical studies have advanced the field of radiation oncology in the last decade. Most progress was made in the following areas: imaging of tumor morphology and function for radiotherapy planning, precision of radiotherapy delivery, individualization of radiotherapy concepts and the modification of tumor cell radiosensitivity by molecular targeting.Computed tomography (CT) scans acquired in the radiotherapy treatment posi