A Short Synthesis Concerning Biological Effects and Equivalent Doses in Radiotherapy

TL;DR

This paper reviews the biological effects of radiation in radiotherapy, emphasizing the importance of understanding mechanisms like hypoxia and DNA repair to optimize treatment and improve outcomes.

Contribution

It provides a synthesis of biological effects, mechanisms, and models used in radiotherapy, highlighting the importance of conceptual understanding for treatment optimization.

Findings

Radiation effects span from femtoseconds to years.

Understanding biological mechanisms aids in treatment optimization.

Validated models form the basis of current radiotherapy practices.

Abstract

It has long been known that radiation biology plays an important role and it is necessary for radiotherapy treatments. The radiation effects on normal and malignant tissues after exposure range from a femtosecond to months and years thereafter [1,2]. Therefore, to optimize treatment, it is crucial to explain and understand these mechanisms [3-5]. Providing a conceptual basis for radiotherapy and identifying the mechanisms and processes that underlie the tumor and normal tissue responses to irradiation can help to explain the observed phenomena [6]. Examples include understanding hypoxia, reoxygenation, tumor cell repopulation, or the mechanisms of repair of DNA damage [3,7,8]. The different biological effects of radiation should be divided into several phases: physical (interaction between charged particles and tissue atoms), chemical (the period during which the damaged atoms and molecules react with other cellular components in rapid chemical reactions), and biological (impact of the generated lesions on the biological tissue [4]). The following section describes the models most often used in radiotherapy. These are simplistic models that actual treatments are based, and that are validated and approved [9-12].