Otilia Ciobanu

Virtually walking the halls at #ASTRO2026 as a medical oncologist, I keep coming back to the same thought: radiation oncology is quietly rewriting what “definitive local therapy” can look like. The unveiling of Accela from @SiemensHealthineers is more than another linac. Single-breath-hold SBRT, multi-site treatments in ~60 seconds, imaging-to-beam-off in under 90 seconds. Speed that actually changes biology and logistics, not just throughput. Patients spend less time on the table. Targets have less chance to move. Adaptive workflows become practical rather than aspirational. What strikes me most as a simple.medonc is the accumulating evidence that SBRT is matching surgery in more and more settings: early lung cancer, localized prostate (PACE-A data here this week), selected oligometastases, small HCC. Every time we add a tumor type to that list, we spare someone anesthesia, a wound, weeks of recovery, and the cascade of complications that still follow even “minimally invasive” operations. Surgery will always have its place. But the risk-benefit conversation is shifting. For older, frail, or multi-morbid patients, the ones I see every clinic day, the non-invasive option is no longer a consolation prize. It is often the more thoughtful one. The field is not just getting more precise. It is getting faster, smarter, and more humane. That is worth paying attention to, even from the medical oncology side of the hallway. Well done my fellow radoncs!!