ABSTRACT
For the majority of people, including doctors whose practice does not frequently impinge on oncology, the way in which radiation therapy is applied in the clinical setting can be difficult to understand. For patients and their relatives, the idea of radiotherapy may even be frightening. Misapprehensions, however, not infrequently underlie plaintiffs’ complaints about radiotherapy treatment. These stem, at least in part, from a lack of understanding of the principles underlying radiotherapy treatment and how it produces side effects in normal tissues when it is being used to overcome the potential of tumour cells for unrestrained proliferation. In particular, the concept of dose in radiation therapy can be confusing.
