Why does radiation therapy cause side effects?
A treatment field includes all of your cancer cells. Therefore, some of your healthy normal cells are unavoidably treated by the radiation. Damage to normal cells may result and this is what causes radiation side effects. Fortunately, we know that normal cells are able to efficiently repair their DNA damage. Cancer cells do not carry out the self-reparation that healthy cells produce. Even though some normal tissue is injured during radiation treatment, it usually recovers while cancer cells are killed. Radiation side effects are strictly limited to those tissues that are actually being treated. If, for example, a patient is treated for prostate cancer or breast cancer, he or she won’t experience hair loss from the head area. Likewise, radiation to the head or neck region may cause a sore throat, but it won’t result in nausea or diarrhea.
Healthy normal cells are unavoidably treated by the radiation. The damage to normal cells causes radiation side effects. Even though some normal tissue is injured during radiation treatment, this tissue usually recovers while cancer cells are killed. Radiation side effects are strictly limited to those tissues that are actually being treated. For example, a patient treated with radiation for prostate cancer or breast cancer won’t experience hair loss from the head area.
