Advances in treatment with intensity-modulated conformal radiotherapy

The modern practice of radiotherapy centres on the development of conformal radiotherapy, techniques to ensure the high-dose volume is tightly wrapped around the diseased tissue and excluded as far as possible from adjacent normal structures. The development of conformal radiotherapy is a chain of processes involving treatment planning, development of new methods to deliver radiation, verification of the accuracy of radiation delivery and improvement of biological outcome. This is an enormous field of activity. This invited review paper summarises some of the main elements of progress towards implementing intensity-modulated conformal radiotherapy. This is the newest and most exciting development and, when achieved clinically, will lead to a quantum leap in tumour control probability with a fixed level of normal tissue damage.