What is radiation therapy?
Radiation therapy uses high-energy rays to stop breast cancer cells from growing and dividing. Ionizing radiation deposits energy in the area being treated that injures cancer cells by damaging genetic material and inhibiting growth. Although radiation damages both cancer cells and normal cells, normal cells are usually able to repair themselves and function properly after radiation. How soon after lumpectomy does radiation therapy usually begin? Radiation is usually started several weeks after lumpectomy, allowing ample time for the breast to heal. If the woman is also having chemotherapy as part of treatment, the physician will sometimes begin chemotherapy prior to starting radiation therapy. How long do the side effects of radiation therapy usually last? Common side effects of radiation therapy such as breast soreness, swelling, reddening of the breast skin, a feeling of heaviness in the breast, fatigue, and loss of appetite usually go away within four to six weeks after radiation b
Radiation therapy is a highly effective, pain-free treatment option used to cure or control the spread of cancer, bring relief to symptoms including pain, and to improve the quality of life of a patient with cancer. Radiation therapy is used on up to 80% of all cancers including breast cancer, lung cancer, prostate cancer, skin cancer, brain tumors and more. Radiation therapy involves the use of various kinds of radiation treatment techniques. The most effective radiation technique is selected to destroy abnormal (cancer) cells while sparing the normal surrounding tissue. External radiation therapy treatment (this is known as IMRT or 3-D Treatment Planning or External Beam radiation) involves the careful and accurate use of a high energy beam that passes through living tissue directly at a cancerous tumor and then exits out the other side of the body. Internal radiation therapy treatment (also known as brachytherapy) involves the careful and accurate placement of radioactive sources in
Radiation therapy is one of the three major ways to treat cancer; the other two are surgery and chemotherapy. Everyone knows what surgery is: something gets cut out or cut off. What most people don’t understand is the difference between chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Chemotherapy – or chemo, for short – is basically a treatment procedure that circulates anti-cancer medicine throughout the entire body. This is most often given as an intravenous (IV) infusion or by pill form. Radiation therapy is the use of x-rays or gamma rays to treat cancer. X-rays and gamma rays are basically the same, although they come from different sources. When a radioactive source such as cobalt or radium is used, as was common in the past, the ray produced was a gamma ray. In modern radiotherapy, x-rays are produced in a machine called a linear accelerator. The only time radioactive sources are used today is with radioactive implants. Your physician will tell you if this is indicated for your cancer. Most
Radiation therapy (also called radiotherapy, x-ray therapy or irradiation) is a painless treatment, similar to an x-ray. It uses high energy x-rays to injure the DNA of cancer cells so that they are unable to grow or to repair themselves. Cancer cell populations often grow at a faster rate than do normal cell populations and this makes many cancers sensitive to radiation. Radiation also affects normal, healthy cells but, unlike cancer cells, these are often able to recover from radiation damage.
Radiation is a special kind of energy carried by waves or a stream of particles. When radiation is used at very high levels it can be used to treat cancer and other illnesses. High levels of radiation can kill cells or keep them from growing and dividing. Cancer cells grow and divide more rapidly than many of the normal cells around them and so are very vulnerable to radiation. Radiation therapy is an effective way to treat many kinds of cancer in almost any part of the body. Very special techniques are used to make sure that cancer cells are destroyed by the radiation while healthy tissue is protected. About half of all people with cancer are treated with radiation. Radiation therapy is given by an expert team, which includes physicists, dosimetrists, nurses and therapists. The team is led by a physician called a radiation oncologist.
