For some cancer patients who are going to receive radiotherapy, it is more useful to measure their individual sensitivity to radiation than for others. (See also Individual radiation sensitivity to radiotherapy)
As part of the laboratory's own studies, experience has shown that the proportion of patients with increased radiation sensitivity appears to be higher if certain criteria are met.
As not every patient who is to receive radiotherapy can be tested for their individual radiation sensitivity due to the limited laboratory capacity, it seems obvious to select patients specifically with regard to their radiation sensitivity.
The following diagram should serve to illustrate this.
*Notes on a young age of onset:
Certain tumour entities - such as CNS tumours, HPV-induced cervical carcinomas, testicular tumours, certain forms of leukaemia, certain lymphomas or malignant melanomas - often occur in patients under the age of 45. Testing these patients for their individual radiation sensitivity only makes sense if other risk factors are also present. This could be a family history or a proven genetic predisposition. Preferably, such testing should be carried out on patients whose tumours have appeared particularly early in comparison to the average age of onset of the respective tumour entity.
This is the case, for example, with rectal carcinomas, bronchial carcinomas, nasopharyngeal carcinomas, urinary bladder carcinomas, prostate carcinomas or pancreatic carcinomas that occurred before the age of 45-50. Patients with breast cancer tend to be even younger.
