Radiation therapy is usually delivered by prescribing the same radiation dose for each particular type of tumour. But this “one-size-fits-all” approach does not account for a tumour’s intrinsic radiosensitivity and heterogeneity and can lead to recurrence and treatment failure. Researchers in Sweden and Germany are now investigating whether biologically individualized radiotherapy plans, created using PET images of a patient’s tumour biology, can improve treatment outcomes.

The research team – headed up by Marta Lazzeroni from Stockholm University – studied 28 patients with advanced head-and-neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC).…