ReviewFrontiers in oncology2026
Impact of health system interventions to improve access to external beam radiotherapy: a scoping review.
Review in Frontiers in oncology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Purpose: Access to external beam radiotherapy (EBRT) remains heterogeneous across global health systems, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC). This scoping review aimed to synthesize evidence on health-system interventions intended to improve EBRT access, characterize their outcomes, and identify promising strategies for sustainable and equitable radiotherapy delivery. Methods: A systematic search of Ovid MEDLINE, Embase, and CINAHL from inception to June 30, 2025, identified studies evaluating system-level interventions to improve EBRT access. Eligible interventions included infrastructure expansion, workforce development, operational redesign, telemedicine, financing, and quality improvement initiatives. Data were extracted in duplicate and narratively synthesized by intervention domain. Results: Across 31 included studies, the most frequent intervention domains were infrastructure expansion (45%), workforce development (35%), operational redesign (29%), telemedicine (26%), referral and navigation (19%), and financial reforms (10%). The majority of studies reported improved radiotherapy utilization, reduced waiting times, and higher treatment completion rates. Multi-component programs that integrate interventions such as infrastructure and workforce expansion, operational redesign, tele-radiotherapy, decentralization through hub-and-spoke models, and protocolization of hypofractionation regimens, workforce, and operational redesign, can be a sustainable strategy to progress towards equitable, system-level programs to improve EBRT access. Conclusion: Health-system interventions can meaningfully expand access to EBRT when they align investments in infrastructure, workforce, and operations. Multi-component, equity-focused strategies hold promise for scalable, high-quality radiotherapy delivery to address access disparities. Future research should adopt standardized access metrics and report equity-stratified outcomes to guide national strategies for sustainable scale-up of EBRT.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.