Episode 98. Radiation Oncology with Dr Marcus Foo (Part 1)
Radiation oncology occupies a very important place in cancer therapy as an essential member of the multidisciplinary approach to cancer treatment . Of the near 146 000 Australians diagnosed with cancer each year is estimated that about half would benefit from radiation therapy as part of their overall cancer treatment.
Radiation therapy is a highly cost-effective cancer therapy contributing only about 10% of each healthcare dollar spent on treating cancer overall yet vital in about 40% or cancers that are cured. The technology employs ionising radiation that causes the ejection of an orbital electron which is the molecular event leading to damage and eventually cell death. The radiation used may be either electromagnetic in nature using photons or gamma rays or particulate- directing a stream of electrons, protons or other atomic particles to the target and causing DNA damage to both normal tissue and tumour cells. Cells are most susceptible in the G1 and G2 phases which represent growth and preparation for mitosis as well as the mitosis phase referred to as the M phase. Additionally, hypoxic cells are thought to be less susceptible to radiation than well-oxygenated cells as free radicals formed by ionising radiation are more easily repaired in the absence of oxygen.
Photon therapy is interesting in allowing the delivery of energy to internal malignancies with relative tolerance at the level of the skin.
Radiation dose is measured as energy per unit mass -where 1 J/kg is 1 Gray.
In this podcast, I was joined by Dr Marcus Foo who is a radiation oncologist with Genesis Care. Marcus graduated from the University of Melbourne in 2000 and trained in radiation oncology at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre before undertaking a clinical and research fellowship at the BC Cancer Agency in Vancouver, Canada focusing on gastrointestinal, breast and genitourinary oncology. He has a strong interest in stereotactic radiation therapy and image-guided radiation therapy. I was keen to discuss with Marcus the principles of radiation oncology in more depth and understand much of the terminology used such as ‘fractionated radiotherapy’, ‘external beam’, ‘brachytherapy’, ‘stereotactic’ and ‘palliative therapy'. This conversation is covered across two very interesting episodes. I hope you enjoy the interview and I am pleased you have joined us.
References:
Dr Marcus Foo :www.genesiscare.com
Introduction to Radiation Oncology: www.astro.org
Introduction to Radiation Oncology : Apicelli, Parikh and Zoberi, Haematology and Oncology Subspecialty Consult, 4th Ed,Wolters Kluwer
To be a guest on the show or provide some feedback, I’d love to hear from you: manager@gihealth.com.au
Dr Luke Crantock MBBS, FRACP, is a gastroenterologist in practice for over 25 years. He is the founder of The Centre for GI Health, based in Melbourne Australia and is passionate about educating General Practitioners and patients on disease prevention and how to manage and improve their digestive health.