Verkooijen H M
Universitair Medisch Centrum Utrecht, Divisie Beeld en Oncologie, Utrecht.
Contact: H. M. Verkooijen (
Ned Tijdschr Geneeskd. 2021 Jul 22;165:D5462.
The pace of innovation within radiotherapy is high. In recent years, two major innovations have made their appearance in the Netherlands: proton therapy and MRI-guided radiotherapy. Both are, in theory, a promising addition to the arsenal of cancer therapies. Financial incentives, industry pressure, and patient demand for high-tech treatments have led, or are likely to lead, to widespread implementation of these innovations, without clinical evidence of superiority over existing techniques. Using proton therapy, the most advanced of both innovations, this article describes that RCTs are necessary to investigate whether, and for whom, the theoretical benefits of radiotherapy innovations actually translate into clinically relevant benefits. With a good national network from the Dutch Society for Radiotherapy and Oncology (NVRO) with collaborating radiation oncologists and clinical physicists, the Netherlands is in the unique position to perform these important RCTs.
放射治疗领域的创新步伐很快。近年来，荷兰出现了两项重大创新：质子治疗和磁共振成像引导放射治疗。从理论上讲，这两种疗法都是癌症治疗手段的有力补充。经济激励、行业压力以及患者对高科技治疗的需求已经或可能导致这些创新疗法的广泛应用，而目前尚无临床证据表明它们比现有技术更具优势。本文以这两种创新疗法中最先进的质子治疗为例，阐述了进行随机对照试验（RCT）对于研究放射治疗创新的理论益处是否以及对哪些人能真正转化为临床相关益处的必要性。荷兰放射治疗与肿瘤学会（NVRO）建立了良好的全国性网络，与合作的放射肿瘤学家和临床物理学家携手，荷兰具备开展这些重要随机对照试验的独特条件。
