Progress of radiation oncology: known and unknown

Objective To elaborate known and unknown aspects of radiation oncology.Data sources Data cited in this review were obtained mainly from PubMed and Medline in English from 1999 to 2013,with keywords"individualized medicine","personalized medicine","radiation dose","radiation target","molecular targeted therapy","molecular imaging"and"functional imaging".Study selection Articles regarding radiation target delineation,radiation doses,new technology and equipment,combination of radiotherapy and molecular targeted therapy as well as other aspects were identified,retrieved and reviewed.Results A larger radiation field and a higher radiation dose are not always better.New equipment and technology are also not always better than conventional equipment and technologies.Effectiveness of radiotherapy combined with molecular targeted therapy needs more data to verify.Conclusion Personalized radiotherapy is the direction for the future.