De radiotherapie in Nederland

• Radiotherapy is an important pillar in the treatment of cancer. Monodisciplinary cooperation and multidisciplinary cooperation have both been improved. Treatment results have also significantly improved over the course of the last decade.
• Patients will increasingly be involved in the decision-making process regarding the treatment programme to be followed. The selection of an optimal treatment for older and often vulnerable cancer patients will get a lot of attention in the years to come.
• Constant developments are improving the effectiveness of treatments or patients’ quality of life. Notable innovations include the clinical introduction of proton therapy and MR-Linac. FLASH radiotherapy and combinations of radiotherapy and immunotherapy are on the rise.
• We have to deal responsibly with all new treatment methods and promising expensive innovations. Two things are needed for this: continuous availability of outcome data and responsible management. Reliable registration of treatment outcomes is not yet available.

Conflict of interest and financial support: none declared.