1Department of Radiation Oncology, Kyungpook National University, School of Medicine, Daegu, Korea
2Department of Radiation Oncology, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea
3Healthcare Review and Assessment Committee, Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service, Seoul, Korea
Copyright © 2023 by the Korean Cancer Association
This is an Open-Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Ethical Statement
The review exemption of this study using the publicly available information was approved by the Institutional Review Board (SMC 2022-06-067).
Author Contributions
Conceived and designed the analysis: Lee JE, Yang K, Ahn YC, Park W, Huh SJ.
Collected the data: Lee JE, Yang K.
Performed the analysis: Lee JE, Yang K.
Wrote the paper: Yang K.
Revision of the draft: Lee JE, Park W, Huh SJ.
Conflicts of Interest
Yong Chan Ahn, the editor-in-chief of the Cancer Research and Treatment, was not involved in the editorial evaluation or decision to publish this article. All remaining authors have declared no conflicts of interest.
Patients (103 persons) (A) | Fractions (103 fractions) (B) | Expenses (million $) (C) | No. of hospitals (D) | Radiation oncologists (persons) (E) | Radiation oncologists per hospital (persons) (E/D) | Patients per radiation oncologist (persons) (A/E) | Fractions per radiation oncologist (fractions) (B/E) | Expenses per radiation oncologist (million $) (C/E) | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Metropolitana) | |||||||||
Subtotal | 62.7 | 1,022.5 | 400.1 | 53 | 171 | 3.2 | 366.7 | 5,979.5 | 2.3 |
Seoul | 41.5 | 679.9 | 270.9 | 27 | 109 | 4.0 | 380.7 | 6,237.6 | 2.5 |
Non-Seoul | 21.2 | 342.6 | 129.2 | 26 | 62 | 2.4 | 341.9 | 5,525.8 | 2.1 |
Non-metropolitan | |||||||||
Subtotal | 32.0 | 579.3 | 205.5 | 44 | 109 | 2.5 | 293.6 | 5,314.7 | 1.9 |
Gangwon | 2.2 | 41.3 | 14.8 | 4 | 10 | 2.5 | 220.0 | 4,130.0 | 1.5 |
Chungcheongb) | 5.2 | 104.5 | 38.9 | 9 | 20 | 2.2 | 260.0 | 5,225.0 | 1.9 |
Gyeongsangc) | 18.4 | 318.7 | 110.7 | 23 | 58 | 2.5 | 317.2 | 5,494.8 | 1.9 |
Jeollad) | 5.5 | 99.3 | 35.7 | 6 | 17 | 2.8 | 323.5 | 5,841.2 | 2.1 |
Jeju | 0.7 | 15.5 | 5.4 | 2 | 4 | 2.0 | 175.0 | 3,875.0 | 1.4 |
The annual number of centers operating the department of radiation oncology, the number of radiation oncologists, and the machines for radiotherapy
Year | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | |
No. of centers with RO facilities | 90 | 91 | 93 | 93 | 97 |
No. of radiation oncologists (persons) | 245 | 252 | 261 | 270 | 280 |
No. of machines (total) | 190 | 204 | 210 | 209 | 223 |
Linac | 158 | 169 | 171 | 181 | 184 |
Tomotherapy | 17 | 20 | 24 | 23 | 25 |
Cyberknife | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 10 |
PBT (gantries) | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
Linac, linear accelerator; PBT, proton beam therapy; RO, radiation oncology.
Geographical distribution of use and expenses for radiotherapy in 2020
Patients (103 persons) (A) | Fractions (103 fractions) (B) | Expenses (million $) (C) | No. of hospitals (D) | Radiation oncologists (persons) (E) | Radiation oncologists per hospital (persons) (E/D) | Patients per radiation oncologist (persons) (A/E) | Fractions per radiation oncologist (fractions) (B/E) | Expenses per radiation oncologist (million $) (C/E) | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Metropolitan | |||||||||
Subtotal | 62.7 | 1,022.5 | 400.1 | 53 | 171 | 3.2 | 366.7 | 5,979.5 | 2.3 |
Seoul | 41.5 | 679.9 | 270.9 | 27 | 109 | 4.0 | 380.7 | 6,237.6 | 2.5 |
Non-Seoul | 21.2 | 342.6 | 129.2 | 26 | 62 | 2.4 | 341.9 | 5,525.8 | 2.1 |
Non-metropolitan | |||||||||
Subtotal | 32.0 | 579.3 | 205.5 | 44 | 109 | 2.5 | 293.6 | 5,314.7 | 1.9 |
Gangwon | 2.2 | 41.3 | 14.8 | 4 | 10 | 2.5 | 220.0 | 4,130.0 | 1.5 |
Chungcheong |
5.2 | 104.5 | 38.9 | 9 | 20 | 2.2 | 260.0 | 5,225.0 | 1.9 |
Gyeongsang |
18.4 | 318.7 | 110.7 | 23 | 58 | 2.5 | 317.2 | 5,494.8 | 1.9 |
Jeolla |
5.5 | 99.3 | 35.7 | 6 | 17 | 2.8 | 323.5 | 5,841.2 | 2.1 |
Jeju | 0.7 | 15.5 | 5.4 | 2 | 4 | 2.0 | 175.0 | 3,875.0 | 1.4 |
a)Metropolitan includes Seoul, Gyeonggi, and Incheon,
b)Chungcheong includes Chungnam, Chungbuk, Daejeon, and Sejong,
c)Gyeongsang includes Gyeongnam, Gyeongbuk, Daegu, Busan, and Ulsan,
d)Jeolla includes Jeonnam, Jeonbuk, and Gwangju.
Linac, linear accelerator; PBT, proton beam therapy; RO, radiation oncology.
Metropolitan includes Seoul, Gyeonggi, and Incheon, Chungcheong includes Chungnam, Chungbuk, Daejeon, and Sejong, Gyeongsang includes Gyeongnam, Gyeongbuk, Daegu, Busan, and Ulsan, Jeolla includes Jeonnam, Jeonbuk, and Gwangju.