Why can all cancers be treated with radiation therapy?
Radiation therapy can be part of a treatment plan for most types of cancers, but it works better for some than others. Sometimes, radiation therapy is used instead of surgery to attack a tumor, as in prostate cancer. In many cases, radiation therapy is used in combination with surgery and chemotherapy. Surgery removes the tumor, and then radiation therapy is given to a larger, adjoining area to destroy any cancer cells that were not removed during surgery. Chemotherapy is then used to eliminate cancer cells that might have spread to the rest of the body. Radiation therapy can also be effective against small tumors that cannot be removed through surgery (i.e., bone or brain tumors that have spread). Cancers like leukemia that affect blood and bone marrow throughout the body are generally not initially treated with radiation therapy, but patients with these cancers may receive prophylactic (preventive) radiation therapy to the brain or spinal canal to treat cancer cells that may be prese
