Radiation medicine's next chapter: beyond cancer

When most people hear "radiation therapy," they think of cancer treatment. That makes sense. Radiation has been one of the most important tools in the fight against cancer for decades, saving and extending millions of lives. But a new editorial argues that radiation medicine is ready to do much more, and a team of doctors led by a Northern Virginia radiation oncologist physician is helping show the way.

In a piece published this year in Advances in Radiation Oncology, Dr. Gopal K. Bajaj of the Inova Schar Cancer Institute in Fairfax, Virginia (where I live and work), and eight co-authors lay out a vision for what they call "Functional Radiation Medicine," or FRM. The core idea is simple but exciting: if radiation can destroy cancer cells, it can also, at lower and carefully targeted doses, calm inflammation, slow abnormal tissue growth, and help restore normal function in conditions that have nothing to do with cancer.

And the range of conditions is broader than you might expect. The editorial describes a spectrum that runs from low-dose radiation for painful joints, heel pain, and hand contractures all the way to high-precision treatments for life-threatening heart rhythm disorders, tremors, epilepsy, and even early research into Alzheimer's disease and heart failure. Perhaps most striking, the authors propose that these uses could eventually serve more patients than traditional cancer treatment does.

A Global Team, Connected by ASTRO

One of the most impressive things about this editorial is how far-flung the author team is. Dr. Bajaj's co-authors come from across the United States and even Australia: Jarad Martin in Newcastle, New South Wales; Clifford Robinson at Washington University in St. Louis; Markus Bredel at the University of Miami; Kenneth Merrell at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota; Evan Thomas in Winter Park, Florida; John Plastaras at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia; Jessica Schuster in Johnson Creek, Wisconsin; and Emily Wilson at the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) headquarters in Arlington, Virginia.

What connects them all is the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO), the world's largest professional group for radiation doctors and scientists. In late 2025, ASTRO created a Functional Radiation Medicine Task Force with working groups focused on joint and muscle conditions, brain and nerve disorders, and heart rhythm problems, and that effort brought this team together. Just this past weekend, the topic was front and center at a full-day Functional Radiation Medicine Workshop at ASTRO's 2026 Annual Meeting in Boston, where both Bajaj and Martin were the featured presenters.

What This Means for Patients and Their Insurance

For patients, the first question is always: will my insurance pay for it? The good news is that low-dose radiation therapy for non-cancer conditions is already covered by Medicare and many major commercial insurance plans for a growing list of uses. Conditions like plantar fasciitis (heel pain), Dupuytren's contracture (a hand condition that curls the fingers inward), Ledderhose disease (a similar condition in the foot), osteoarthritis, abnormal bone growth after surgery, and heavy scarring (keloids) are all recognized in the coverage guidelines that insurers follow. Aetna, for instance, already covers radiation for early-stage Dupuytren's contracture. Medicare's billing rules specifically allow radiation therapy for non-cancer diagnoses, as long as the doctor documents the other treatments that were tried first.

The authors are clear-eyed about what comes next. They argue that building a strong foundation of rigorous research and organized professional advocacy through groups like ASTRO is the key to making these treatments accessible to more patients and ensuring that insurers recognize their value. To that end, the editorial introduces a proposal for the Functional Radiation Medicine Evidence (FRAME) Network, envisioned as an international cooperative group to coordinate clinical trials, shared data registries, and outcomes research across institutions and borders.

The Road Ahead

The bigger picture here is about changing how we think about radiation. It is not just a weapon against cancer. It is becoming a precise, flexible tool for easing pain, restoring movement, and improving quality of life across a much wider range of conditions. One point the editorial makes especially well is about language: patients do not experience severe arthritis, dangerous heart rhythms, or disabling tremors as "benign" conditions. The authors argue that the old "benign versus malignant" way of categorizing radiation's uses is outdated and that "Functional Radiation Medicine" better captures what these treatments actually do, restoring function and relieving suffering.

Sharing the editorial on LinkedIn, Dr. Bajaj wrote that he believes "we are at a true inflection point for Functional Radiation Medicine" and that if the field proceeds ”thoughtfully and scientifically, FRM has the potential to become not a peripheral application of radiation therapy, but a defining domain of radiation medicine."

For patients living with painful, limiting conditions that have nothing to do with cancer, the aching heel, the curling hand, the racing heart, that is very good news.