Hernán Letelier, President of the Sociedad Chilena de Radioterapia Oncológica (SOCHIRA), shared on LinkedIn:
“Today at ASTRO 2026 in Boston, I moderated and spoke at the session:
‘Radiotherapy Under Debate: Defending the Indication in Latin America through Evidence, Value, and Access’.
The session was aligned with the meeting’s central theme:
‘Data to Dialogue: Communicating Radiotherapy’s Value to Advance Care’.
We discussed four cases where radiotherapy can offer organ preservation, less functional impact, better quality of life and good cost-effectiveness:
- Locally advanced rectal cancer
- Laryngeal cancer
- Stage III lung cancer
- Muscle-invasive bladder cancer
In my closing talk I reviewed why patients with an indication for radiotherapy end up not receiving it, and proposed four actions, beyond clinical evidence, to defend these indications:
- Ensure our presence at the tumor board, not only at the later referral, and encourage a radiation oncology consultation whenever the indication is under debate.
- Enable genuine patient participation and shared decision-making.
- Review the words we use to describe radiotherapy, inside and outside the clinic, and educate patients, colleagues and civil society.
- Bring access data to those who decide on investment: scientific societies, health authorities and payers.
Thank you to the panelists, to American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) and to everyone who joined us.”
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