Radiation Therapy Oncology Group 2010

For 40 years, the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group® (RTOG®) has been a recognized leader in working to increase survival and improve the quality of life for cancer patients. Based in Philadelphia, RTOG is a key clinical research component of the American College of Radiology (ACR) and serves as a multi-institutional, international clinical cooperative group funded primarily by the National Cancer Institute

The RTOG was initially organized in 1968 under the direction of Dr. Simon Kramer at Thomas Jefferson University as a national clinical cooperative group for the purpose of conducting radiation therapy research and cooperative clinical investigations. Funding from the National Cancer Institute began in 1971 and by 1981 the group headquarters, statistical and data management operations were located in the Philadelphia office of the ACR. The Group has grown considerably since the activation of its first study in 1968, a randomized trial evaluating the addition of concurrent methotrexate to radiation for patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck region. The study employed combinations of radiation, methotrexate, and surgery in the treatment of advanced head and neck cancer and is considered a milestone in interdisciplinary clinical efforts. The over 700 patients enrolled to this study formed the baseline for many of the clinical investigations in the area of head and neck cancer.