Radiation Therapy

What is radiation therapy, and how does it work ?

Tumors are made up of cells that are reproducing at abnormally high rates. Radiation therapy specifically acts against cells that are reproducing rapidly. Normal cells are programmed to stop reproducing (or dividing) when they come into contact with other cells. In the case of a tumor, this stop mechanism is missing, causing cells to continue to divide over and over. It is the DNA of the cell that makes it capable of reproducing.

Radiation therapy uses high energy x-rays to damage the DNA of cells, thereby killing the cancer cells, or at least stopping them from reproducing. Radiation also damages normal cells, but because normal cells are growing more slowly, they are better able to repair this radiation damage than are cancer cells...

How is radiation therapy given ?

Radiation therapy is considered to be a "local" therapy, meaning it treats a specific localized area of the body. This is in contrast to systemic therapies, such as chemotherapy, which travel throughout the body.

There are two main types of radiation therapy : -

External radiation therapy, where a beam of radiation is directed from outside the body, and internal radiation therapy, also called brachytherapy or implant therapy, where a source of radioactivity is surgically placed inside the body near the tumor...

External radiation may also be called x-ray therapy, cobalt therapy, proton therapy, or intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT). This type of radiation is administered using a machine called a linear accelerator. Treatment can be given once or twice a day, depending on the treatment protocol being used...

Side effects of Radiation therapy

Radiation therapy damages healthy cells along with the cancer cells, and this damage can cause side effects. Most of the body's healthy cells recover after the therapy is stopped. The side effects you may get depend on your radiation dose and what body parts are treated...

Beam Radiation

The most common type of radiation is known as external beam. In this technique, a large machine called a linear accelerator delivers high-energy radiation to the affected area. The linear accelerator creates high-energy radiation to treat cancers, using electricity to form a stream of fast-moving subatomic particles. You'll receive this form of radiation as an outpatient in daily sessions over five to seven weeks, depending on your particular situation...

  

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