title: Evidence based radiation oncology with existing technology.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the real contribution of modern radiation therapy (RT) technology in the more common tumoral types in Central America, Caribbean and South America.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  RT is an essential tool in the management of cancer. RT can be either palliative or of curative intent. In general, for palliative radiotherapy, major technologies are not needed.
  
  
  METHODS
  We analyzed the contribution of RT technology based on published evidence for breast, lung, gastric, gallbladder, colorectal, prostate and cervix cancer in terms of disease control, survival or toxicity with especial focus on Latin America.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Findings indicate that three dimensional conformal radiation therapy (3D RT) is the gold standard in most common type of cancer in the studied regions. Prostate cancer is probably the pathology that has more benefits when using new RT technology such as intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) versus 3DRT in terms of toxicity and biochemical progression-free survival.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In light of the changes in technology, the ever-increasing access of developing countries to such technology, and its current coverage in Latin America, any efforts in this area should be aimed at improving the quality of the radiotherapy departments and centers that are already in place.
authors: Department of Radiation Oncology, Institute of Radio Medicine IRAM, Santiago, Chile.
authors: Nicolas
authors: N
authors: Isa
keywords: Oncology; Radiation therapy; Technology