Comparative Effectiveness Research in Radiation Oncology: Stereotactic Radiosurgery, Hypofractionation, and Brachytherapy

Radiation oncology encompasses a diverse spectrum of treatment modalities, including stereotactic radiosurgery, hypofractionated radiotherapy, and brachytherapy. Though all these modalities generally aim to do the same thing—treat cancer with therapeutic doses of radiation while relatively sparing normal tissue from excessive toxicity, the general radiobiology and physics underlying each modality are distinct enough that their equivalence is not a given. Given the continued innovation in radiation oncology, the comparative effectiveness of these modalities is important to review. Given the broad scope of radiation oncology, this article focuses on the 3 most common sites requiring radiation treatment: breast, prostate, and lung cancer.