Editorial
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Meta-Anal. Jun 26, 2015; 3(3): 133-138
Published online Jun 26, 2015. doi: 10.13105/wjma.v3.i3.133
Evolving role of salvage reirradiation: Is global harmonization required before treatment guidelines can be developed?
Natalie Logie, C Suzanne Drodge, Oleksandr Boychak, Alysa Fairchild
Natalie Logie, Alysa Fairchild, Department of Radiation Oncology, Cross Cancer Institute, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 1Z2, Canada
C Suzanne Drodge, Dr H Bliss Murphy Cancer Centre, St John’s, NL A1B 3V6, Canada
Oleksandr Boychak, UPMC Whitfield Cancer Centre, Butlerstown North, Waterford, Ireland
Author contributions: All authors contributed to this work.
Conflict-of-interest: The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Dr. Alysa Fairchild, MD, FRCPC, Department of Radiation Oncology, Cross Cancer Institute, 11560 University Avenue, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 1Z2, Canada. alysa@ualberta.ca
Telephone: +1-780-4328516 Fax: +1-780-4328380
Received: January 28, 2015
Peer-review started: January 28, 2015
First decision: March 6, 2015
Revised: March 31, 2015
Accepted: April 16, 2015
Article in press: April 20, 2015
Published online: June 26, 2015
Core Tip

Core tip: Given the heterogeneity of the available reirradiation evidence, an international registry would provide a foundation on which to base consensus recommendations regarding many of the outstanding questions surrounding patient selection and treatment planning. Inter-centre collaboration will be required to build a critical mass of data sufficient for robust statistical analysis; however, in order to achieve this, global harmonization is needed. Standardized nomenclature would facilitate consistent coding of treated volumes, doses, toxicity rates, and quality of life outcomes. A registry would also assist in determining the feasibility of both phase II prospective studies and meta-analysis of currently available data.