What types of radiation therapy are there?
Radiation is delivered in one of two ways. • Brachytherapy, or internal radiation therapy, inserts radioactive material directly into or near the tumor. The radioactive material is either later removed or left in place. Removable radiation sources are inserted with needles or small thin tubes. Sometimes the material is left in your body (permanent brachytherapy). In this case, small beads containing the radioactive material are inserted into the tumor. The beads release radiation at the site of the tumor over a few days or weeks, after which they are no longer radioactive. • External radiation therapy, or teletherapy, uses a beam of radiation directed at the tumor. After the area of cancer is identified, a small ink tattoo is fixed on the skin over the area of cancer so that the radiation beam can be focused on the same spot for each treatment. It is necessary to focus the radiation beam on the cancer cells and to shield nearby healthy tissue from the radiation. External radiation ther
