[en] This is a review of the advances made in the field of cancer radiotherapy during the last 25 years. The metavoltage era has led to a higher survival rate and a promising future lies ahead in cancer treatment. (B.G.)

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[en] Eighty years of the history of radiation therapy are reviewed. Discovery of X-ray, radioactivity and radium was made at the end of the 19th Century. The products of nuclear fission reactions such as ⁶⁰Co and the high-energy beam generated by megavoltage devices are used as effective tools to ionize beneath the skin surface where cancerous change is present. Development of more selective devices was performed from both the irradiating means and chemically sensitive and selective sensitizers. Differential radioprotection is also a valid means to improve therapeutic gain. The radiosensitivity of mammalian cells is reduced approximately 3-fold when they are irradiated in nitrogen atmosphere rather than in air or in oxygen. As the differential modification of radiosensitivity currently used, the following means are practiced: (a) increased yield of irreversible radiation lesions, (b) increased intrinsic sensitivity of target DNA, (c) inhibition of repair, (d) optimization of dose fractionation schedules and (e) differential radioprotection of normal tumors. With 156 references up to 1978. (Yamashita, S.)

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