The treatment of a patient with radiation therapy is planned to find the optimal way to treat a tumour while minimizing the dose received by the surrounding normal tissues. In order to better exploit the possibilities of this process, the availability of accurate and quantitative knowledge of the peculiar responses of the different tissues is of paramount importance.

This book provides an invaluable tutorial for radiation oncologists, medical physicists, and dosimetrists involved in the planning optimization phase of treatment. It presents a practical, accessible, and comprehensive summary of the field’s current research and knowledge regarding the response of normal tissues to radiation. This is the first comprehensive attempt to do so since the publication of the QUANTEC guidelines in 2010.