Summary

The Department of Radiation Oncology at the University Hospital Essen is conducting investigator initiated clinical phase I – III trials with the aim of improving the therapeutic ratio of radiotherapy.

Main fields of activity are: trimodality therapies, radiotherapy combinations with immunotherapies, dose escalation, normal tissue sparing, technology evaluation for beam delivery on moving targets,  optimizations of image guidance, treatment planning strategies based on functional imaging studies. Biomarkers related to DNA repair fidelity and critical tumor vulnerabilities for radiotherapy are analysed in prospective and retrospective studies.  Tumor and normal tissue characteristics from functional imaging are studied in relation to their prognostic value.

Several are conducted within the DKTK-network.