Radiation Oncology in Bone Cancers

Bone cancers present unique clinical challenges for radiation oncologists, whether arising as primary malignancies or as metastatic disease from distant sites. Primary bone tumors, including osteosarcoma, Ewing sarcoma, chondrosarcoma, and chordoma, are rare but often aggressive malignancies that require multimodal treatment approaches. Bone metastases, by contrast, are far more common and represent a major source of morbidity in patients with advanced cancers of the breast, prostate, lung, and other primary sites. Radiation therapy plays a central role across this spectrum, from curative-intent treatment of primary sarcomas to palliative management of painful or structurally compromised metastatic lesions. Recent advances in treatment planning, delivery technologies, and systemic therapy integration have expanded the therapeutic possibilities for patients with bone involvement.Despite these advances, significant gaps remain in optimizing radiotherapy for bone cancers, both primary and secondary (osteosarcoma, chondrosarcoma, and bone metastases). For primary bone tumors, the historically limited role of radiation therapy is being re-examined as particle therapies, including proton and carbon-ion therapy, offer improved dose conformality and sparing of critical structures. For bone metastases, stereotactic body radiotherapy has transformed the management of oligometastatic disease and spinal lesions, yet questions persist around optimal fractionation, patient selection, and sequencing with immunotherapy and targeted agents. Additionally, the integration of artificial intelligence and radiomics into treatment planning and response assessment presents new opportunities for personalization. We welcome submissions that explore, but are not limited to, the following themes:• Stereotactic body radiotherapy for spinal metastases and oligometastatic bone disease.• Proton therapy and carbon-ion therapy for both primary and secondary bone cancers.• Palliative radiotherapy optimization: fractionation schedules, re-irradiation, and pain response assessment.• Radiotherapy combined with immunotherapy or targeted systemic agents in bone cancers.• Management of malignant spinal cord compression and post-operative radiotherapy.• AI, radiomics, and machine learning applications in bone tumor imaging and treatment planning.• MR-guided radiotherapy and adaptive planning for bone lesions.• Comparative effectiveness of radiotherapy modalities in primary bone sarcomas.• Quality of life, functional outcomes, and survivorship following radiotherapy for bone cancers.• Emerging technologies including FLASH radiotherapy and radioligand therapy for bone-targeted treatment.We invite Original Research articles, Reviews, Mini Reviews, Systematic Reviews, Case Reports, and Perspectives from researchers and clinicians working in this field. Contributions addressing both primary bone malignancies and metastatic disease are encouraged, as are studies examining novel technologies, clinical outcomes, and translational research. Please note: manuscripts consisting solely of bioinformatics, computational analysis, or predictions of public databases which are not accompanied by validation (independent clinical or patient cohort, or biological validation in vitro or in vivo, which are not based on public databases) are not suitable for publication in this journal. Topic editors: David Konieczkowski, Kevin X Liu, Jie Jane Chen Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/85354/radiation-oncology-in-bone-cancers