Academy Add-ons

Activity Description
This program is designed to address the needs of a community practice physician and includes disease site reviews, interactive case-based discussions, software updates, and policy issues impacting radiation oncology.

The Practical Radiation Oncology (PRO) Program 2026 includes all PRO sessions originally presented and recorded at the 2026 ASTRO Annual Meeting. Learn more about the presentations and presenters for each PRO session listed below. 

PRO Sessions:

• Anticipating and Reducing Potential Toxicity in Breast Cancer Treatment: Hypofractionation and Volume Reduction, Planning Objectives and Techniques to Limit Toxicity and Management of Adverse Effects
• Practical Tips for Optimizing Your Radiopharmaceutical Therapy Program
• Practical Management of NSCLC in the Immunotherapy Era
• Oral Cavity Cancer in Clinical Practice: Multimodality Care and Toxicity Management
• CTVs, PTVs and PRVs Oh My! Margins (or perhaps not) in Modern CNS Radiation
• People and Software: Tools that Make Clinic, Treatment Planning and Delivery More Efficient
• Management of Melanoma and Merkel Cell Carcinoma: Immunotherapy and its Impact on Radiation Decision Making
• The Continued Need of Radiation Therapy in Rectal Cancer: From Early to Late Stage Disease
• Key Policy Issues Impacting Radiation Oncology
• Prostate SBRT 2.0: Refining Indications, Optimizing Outcomes
• Making Sense of Clinical Trials in Community Radiation Oncology: From Headlines to High-Value Care

Activity Description
Step beyond the traditional boundaries of oncology and into the future of Functional Radiation Medicine. This high-impact workshop explores the transformative potential of low-dose radiotherapy for nonmalignant conditions, spanning the treatment of degenerative and inflammatory diseases to emerging indications in the CNS and cardiac space. Participants gain invaluable knowledge in the science of low-dose efficacy, safety data, and multidisciplinary practice-building, providing the essential roadmap for any clinician looking to lead at the frontier of functional treatment and patient quality of life. 
 

The palliative care essentials package includes six prerecorded sessions focused on palliative radiation across a variety of sites. All course descriptions and learning objectives appear below.

1) Palliative Radiation Therapy for Spine Metastases

Activity Description
With technological advances re-irradiation has rapidly become common and an important part of cancer management to new or recurrent tumors, yet is clinically challenging given risks of serious toxicity from cumulative doses. Institutional re-irradiation practices vary widely, though often involve a series of highly complex technical procedures coordinated by an interdisciplinary care team including across institutions. In the absence of evidence-based guidelines on re-irradiation best practices, an ESTRO-EORTC consensus paper has outlined technical aspects that must be accounted for in order to guide re-irradiation strategies. These include radiobiology and functional imaging to account for tissue recovery, and dosimetry aspects such as the use of deformable image registration to estimate cumulative doses in drastically different patient anatomy. Understanding the appropriateness and limitations of these processes is critical in their routine application in the clinic, and therefore re-irradiation necessitates interdisciplinary collaboration between oncologists, physicists, therapists and other team members. This activity facilitates more consistent, safe and high-quality care for patients receiving re-irradiation to manage their cancer.

Speaker: Subha Perni, MD – University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center

Objectives

• Develop a multidisciplinary and patient-centered approach to selection of treatment strategies for patients with spine metastases causing pain and/or neurologic compromise.
• Understand evidence and potential indications for selection of spine metastasis-directed radiation techniques, including hypofractionation and stereotactic radiosurgery.

2) Radiation for Non-Spine Bone Metastases

Activity Description
This activity reviews the role of radiation therapy in the management of non-spine bone metastases, focusing on patient evaluation, treatment intent, dose selection and integration with systemic and surgical care. It emphasizes that prognosis and goals of care, ranging from immediate pain palliation to durable control in limited disease, should guide therapeutic decisions. Typical patient workup includes clinical history, musculoskeletal and neurologic examination, and multimodality imaging to assess fracture risk and lesion characteristics. The activity discusses treatment scenarios such as postoperative irradiation after fixation, prophylactic palliation in high-risk asymptomatic lesions, oligometastatic disease and radioresistant histologies, where SBRT may improve response durability. Toxicities, including pain flare, fracture risk and long-term myositis, are reviewed, along with strategies for multidisciplinary management.

Speaker: Divya Yerramilli, MD – Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Objectives

• Identify appropriate treatment intent (pain palliation, prophylactic stabilization, or durable control in limited disease) for various clinical scenarios of patients with non-spine bone metastases.
• Select dose, fractionation and technique for non-spine bone metastases, including when SBRT is preferred for ablation, radioresistant disease or re-irradiation.
• Incorporate multidisciplinary care, including orthopedic input, systemic therapy, bone-modifying agents and supportive interventions in order to improve outcomes and patient quality of life.

3) Palliative Radiation for Head and Neck and Cutaneous Malignancies

Activity Description
This activity provides an overview about palliative radiation for head and neck and skin malignancies. It focuses on a brief review of the available evidence supporting palliative radiation therapy for these diseases and assists participants in identifying resources to help guide them in application. Several cases are reviewed to solidify the principles and provide tips for success.

Speaker: Jared Robbins, MD – Duke University Medical Center

Objectives

• Appropriately identify patients who are “good” candidates for palliative radiation.
• Be able to select the appropriate palliative RT doses and volumes.
• Evaluate the available evidence and realize the limitations and strengths.
• Become more familiar with and more comfortable using palliative regimens.

4) From Beam to Bedside: Benefits and Logistics of a Dedicated Palliative Radiation Therapy Service

Activity Description
Palliative radiotherapy remains an unmet need, despite its efficacy. This activity discusses how a dedicated palliative radiation service can address barriers to care and play an integral role in improving care access and receipt. The presenter provides helpful insights for those seeking to create such a service or strengthen an existing one. The activity covers the current scope of palliative radiotherapy, the role of dedicated palliative radiation services in terms of both impacts and barrier to their success, and why such services are likely to become increasingly important within the evolving landscape of palliative radiation.

Speaker: Anna W. LaVigne, MD – Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

Objectives

• Illustrate why palliative radiotherapy remains an unmet need.
• Convey the integral role that a dedicated palliative radiation service can play in improving access to and receipt of care.
• Provide insights to support de novo development or further refinement of a dedicated palliative radiation service.

5) Pharmacologic Symptom Management in the Radiation Oncology Clinic

Activity Description
Radiation oncologists see patients across a wide spectrum of oncologic diseases and clinical conditions. Whether as a result of disease burden, cancer-directed treatment, or other unrelated problems, many patients present to the radiation oncology clinic with significant symptom management needs. This activity acts as a refresher of the pharmacology and best practices for outpatient pharmacologic symptom management. The primary focus of this presentation is opioid pain management and the treatment of nausea, vomiting and constipation.

Speaker: Ethan Steele, MD, MSCR – University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Transitions Lifecare

Objectives

• Describe evidence-based practices in prescribing opioids.
• Develop a structured approach to converting between different opioid agents and schedules.
• Review pharmacologic strategies in the outpatient management of nausea, vomiting and constipation.

6) Navigating the Complexities of Brain Metastases and Leptomeningeal Disease Management

Activity Description
The management of patients with brain metastases and leptomeningeal disease (LMD) presents complex clinical challenges requiring nuanced, evidence-based decision making. This activity provides a focused review of contemporary treatment strategies for patients with brain metastases and LMD, with an emphasis on individualized care planning and multidisciplinary management. Participants will examine the evolving role of radiotherapy across clinical scenarios, including indications for stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS), whole-brain radiotherapy (WBRT) and hippocampal-avoidance approaches.

Speaker: H. Michael Yu, MD – Moffitt Cancer Center

Objectives

• Discuss treatment strategies for patients with multiple brain metastases and leptomeningeal disease (LMD).
• Understand the role of radiotherapy for brain metastases and LMD.
• Review radiotherapy techniques for brain metastases and LMD.
• Appreciate the multidisciplinary management for patients with brain metastases.

The radiopharmaceutical therapy package includes two sessions originally presented and recorded at the 2026 Multidisciplinary Radiopharmaceutical Therapy Symposium. Course descriptions and learning objectives appear below.

1) Radiopharmaceutical Program Justification and Initial Startup

Activity Description
This activity addresses the initial steps required for building a radiopharmaceutical program. Crucial to starting a program is understanding the business case, which includes understanding the potential referral stream, reimbursement, personnel, space and equipment costs to start a program. Then, we hear from speakers specifically regarding the space, radioactive materials license and protocol requirements for starting a program. Finally, we hear about the clinic and staffing needs to start a program. We seek to educate using experienced professionals from freestanding centers, hospitals and consulting organizations.

Objectives

• Understand the business case for starting a radiopharmaceutical therapy program.
• Develop and apply continuous audit and quality assessment processes to monitor program success, compliance and operational improvements.
• Recognize emerging considerations such as staffing models, training needs and patient experience metrics that contribute to long-term program sustainability.

2) Authorized User Pathways and Physicist Training in Radiopharmaceutical Therapy

Activity Description
This activity explores two essential components of a successful RPT program: authorized user credentialing process and structured training for medical physicists. It includes a step-by-step overview of the regulatory pathway for obtaining AU status, including required training and documentation. In addition, clinical training experiences for medical physicists to support RPT are shared.

Objectives

• Outline the regulatory requirements and application process to obtain AU status.
• Describe the basic principles of RPT dosimetry.
• Identify clinical indications and therapy-specific management for RPTs that are currently approved for clinical use.

The AI in Radiation Oncology Package includes three sessions originally presented and recorded at the 2026 ASTRO Annual Meeting. Course descriptions and learning objectives appear below.

1) Adoption of AI Tools and Technologies: Present and Future Impact on Clinical Care Delivery

Activity Description
This joint ASTRO/ESTRO activity explores the current and emerging impact of artificial intelligence tools and technologies on radiation oncology clinical care delivery. Designed for a multidisciplinary audience, the activity emphasizes practical, clinically relevant applications of AI across the care continuum, including target contouring, treatment planning, clinical implementation, decision support, predictive modeling, patient-facing use cases and legal or ethical considerations. Speakers highlight how AI is being used today, where evidence and workflows continue to evolve, and how clinicians and care teams can thoughtfully evaluate when, where and how to use AI tools to support safe, effective and efficient patient care.

Objectives

• Describe current and emerging applications of artificial intelligence in radiation oncology clinical care delivery, including contouring, treatment planning, decision support, predictive modeling and patient-facing tools.
• Identify practical opportunities and limitations for incorporating AI into daily clinical workflows, including areas where evidence, implementation strategies or workflow redesign are still needed.
• Evaluate considerations for the safe, effective and responsible use of AI tools in clinical practice, including appropriate use cases, potential barriers, legal and ethical challenges, and implications for patients and multidisciplinary care teams.

2) AI-Enabled Radiation Therapy for Global Oncology: Practical Implementation for Cost Reduction

Activity Description
We describe high-impact use cases of AI across the radiotherapy workflow, including deciphering EMR, analyzing imaging, generating automated contouring, planning or QA, and generating outcome modeling, with specific relevance to global practice. We compare AI deployment models suitable for lower-resource environments (cloud versus on-premise versus hybrid; centralized planning hubs versus site-based automation) and their tradeoffs for cost, workforce needs and reliability. We identify key barriers and enabling infrastructure for safe AI adoption in LMIC radiotherapy programs, including data quality, IT systems, connectivity, cybersecurity and human factors. In addition, we evaluate equity considerations — how to avoid “AI widening the gap” — including dataset bias, model drift and strategies for inclusive multicenter data collaboration and governance.

Objectives

• Know available AI options in healthcare and recognize the difference worldwide.
• Obtain basic understanding and know the steps to acquire AI solutions to bridge the gap based on resources available.

3) Generative AI in Radiation Oncology: Moving from Hype to Clinical Implementation

Activity Description
Radiation oncology has spent the last decade refining task-based automation, such as auto-segmentation and dose prediction. However, the rapid emergence of Generative AI (GenAI) and Large Language Models (LLMs) offers a fundamentally new capability: the ability to synthesize information and orchestrate clinical workflows. This activity moves beyond the media hype to examine concrete clinical applications of GenAI. We explore how LLMs can synthesize physician intent from multimodal data during the consult, assist in “explainable” treatment planning optimization, and streamline post-treatment surveillance through automated signal detection. Crucially, the activity balances innovation with responsibility. We debate the unique quality assurance challenges posed by non-deterministic models, where the output may vary and propose rigorous human-in-the-loop frameworks. Learners leave with a practical understanding of where GenAI is justified now, where it requires prospective validation, and how to navigate the emerging landscape for these advanced tools.

Objectives

• Differentiate between standard deterministic automation (e.g., rigid scripts) and probabilistic Generative AI to identify appropriate, high-value use cases within the clinical workflow.
• Evaluate the capability of LLMs to reduce administrative burden by synthesizing consult notes, helping with RT intent generation, operationalizing planning objectives and triaging patient-reported outcomes.
• Determine necessary quality assurance protocols and human-in-the-loop guardrails to ensure patient safety when implementing non-deterministic AI tools in the clinic.