New Approaches to Radiation-Therapeutic Agent Cancer Care for Women

Women with breast or gynecological cancer seeking radiation treatment have not acted like typical consumers—they have a tendency for unflappable approval of their radiation oncologist’s treatment plans, they universally praise their cancer care, and they often display an unwillingness to exchange cancer care providers even if adverse events occur. Nonetheless, new female consumers of radiation treatment are entering the everyday radiation oncology clinic—women who actively probe cancer provider know-how to use novel radiation-anticancer agent treatments, women who challenge cancer provider radiation techniques and length of care, and women who seek an active participatory role in treatment-making decisions. Such a shift in female consumers has been instigated by: (a) better preclinical radiobiology, which increasingly scrutinizes and reports benefits from innovative radiation-experimental therapeutic agent combinations, (b) better early phase trials, which provide consumers with data lauding new radiation-agent approaches to cancer care, (c) better health plans, alerting consumers to best clinical practices and shared insurer-insured consumer financial responsibility, and (d) better home-town service, where local cancer providers provide cutting-edge radiation-agent cancer care. Here within this Frontiers in Oncology research topic for the Women’s Care and Radiation Oncology sections, entitled “New Approaches to Radiation-Therapeutic Agent Cancer Care for Women,” the authors provide a cross-complimenting collection of articles that discuss preclinical radiobiology, overarching treatment tactics, and radiation-agent data for women who seek anticancer therapies for breast or gynecological cancer.