[The after-care of tumor patients in radiotherapy]

A report is presented on the organization and goals of consultative outpatient follow-up of patients with irradiated tumors by the radiotherapeutic oncologist in a radiation therapy clinic. Organization involves a close working relationship with the referring physician and routine patient checkups at regular intervals after radiation therapy. The goals of the follow-up program include detection and treatment of irradiation-induced early and late alterations of normal tissue, assessment of therapeutic results, early recognition of recurrences, metastases and/or additional tumors and initiation of therapy of these. For these reasons standardized follow-up examinations are required. These must be adapted to the type of tumor and supplemented with the usually expensive and time-consuming tumor workup only where there is suspicion of tumor progression or if problems of differential diagnosis arise.