Ethics-Guided Radiation Therapy (EGRT): A necessity in radiation oncology practice

Abstract

Medical ethics principles have been the basis of medical practice since early human civilization. The well-accepted principles are autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, and justice. With the advancement of academia, industry, medicine, and technology, there is a need to empower ethics-guided radiation therapy (EGRT). A PubMed search was done on Oct. 22, 2023, using the words: (“Radiotherapy”[Mesh]) AND “Ethics, Clinical”[Mesh]) and the results were a total of 58. Among these, 17 titles seem to be in relation, but only a handful were of intimate relation to ethics and radiotherapy. An additional handful of non-PubMed references were found. EGRT, in my opinion, is a new acronym for an old concept that needs further elaboration and experts’ consensus in the modern radiation oncology literature. In parallel with the technological advances in radiotherapy, like intensity-modulated radiation therapy “IMRT” and image-guided radiation therapy “IGRT,” we are aiming to create an initiative to establish EGRT to be like a model that every radiation oncologist can follow in the daily radiotherapy practice. The coming work will be composed of an extensive literature review, international survey, and expert consensus, and it is intended to be a base for further efforts in this aspect.