Radiotherapy for benign disorders: current use in clinical practice

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this paper is to provide an update about the current clinical indications of RT in this poorly explored field outside the traditional oncological setting.

Materials and methods: We performed a literature search on the main databases, including PubMed, Scopus and Cochrane from their inception until 31st December 2020. An additional manual check of scientific meeting proceedings and books was conducted in order to identify all the potentially useful sources. Only essays published in English have been considered for the purposes of this analysis. The searched items included: "Radiotherapy or Radiation Therapy" and "Benign disorder or Benign disease".

Results: We provided a list of current clinical indications for benign disorders based on the latest international surveys available, including major sites: eye, bone, head and neck, skin, brain, heart and peripheral vascular system.

Conclusions: Radiotherapy for benign diseases is still a feasible therapeutic strategy, which may allow to treat several invalidating conditions, especially after medical therapies have failed thus avoiding potentially invalidating major surgical procedures. A careful evaluation in selecting the indication is essential and all the choices should be thoroughly discussed with the patients.