The Development Of Radiotherapy In Denmark During 100 Years From Radiology To Oncology

Abstract

The evolution of radiotherapy in Denmark is traced from its early inception in 1896 to the first three radium centres in 1913–1914, the establishment of which caused a roar of protests among the surgeons of that time. Private initiative pioneered the Radium Foundation which raised money for radium and financed erection of new buildings for the three centres in the 1930s. Radiotherapy became a separate speciality in 1950. The early 1960s saw the introduction of megavoltage therapy and the first promising results from chemotherapeutic management of solid tumours. The consequent referral of patients to centres for non-surgical therapy created a need for two new centres (Aalborg and Herlev) and called for a gradual closing down of decentralized low-voltage treatment at county level. However, the decentralization of health care in 1970 partly reversed this trend and some patients were therefore referred for decentralized treatment at major county hospitals. Such treatment mainly consisted of adjuvant or palliative chemotherapy, though in a few counties palliative therapy was supported by low-voltage therapy. In 1987 the medical speciality of radiotherapy was officially renamed oncology.