[From physical examination to irradiation--current aspects of patients and radio-oncologists]

Survival and quality of life in patients with malignant diseases are essentially influenced by modern therapeutic approaches (radiation therapy, surgery and chemotherapy). Improvements in the knowledge of radiation biology, tumour behaviour and in technical equipment have made indications and methods of irradiation more precise and safer during the last decade. The discerning patient is nowadays involved in a more sophisticated consideration of the risk-benefit relation and in the finding of a therapeutic decision.