Review of low-dose-rate radiobiology for clinicians.

The use of therapeutic modalities that employ low-dose-rate (LDR) radiation is becoming increasingly prevalent in the clinic (eg, systemic targeted radiation therapy and brachytherapy). A natural tendency for radiation oncologists as they become familiar with these new therapies is to make predictions regarding efficacy and toxicity based on extrapolations from high-dose-rate radiobiology. If unfounded, these extrapolations could be misleading. This article discusses general principles of LDR radiobiology applicable to radioimmunotherapy.