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EN Radiation therapy
Radiation therapy Overview
Radiation therapy uses high-energy particles or waves, such as x-rays, gamma rays, electron beams, or protons, to destroy or damage cancer cells. Cancer cells grow and divide faster than most normal cells. Radiation works by making small breaks in the DNA inside cells. These breaks keep cancer cells from growing and dividing and cause them to die. Nearby normal cells can also be affected by radiation, but most recover and go back to working the way they should.Radiation therapy is usually a local treatment. This means it’s usually aimed at and affects only the part of the body needing treatment. Radiation treatments are planned so that they damage cancer cells with as little harm as possible to nearby healthy cells. Some systemic radiation therapy use radioactive substances that are given in a vein or by mouth. Even though this type of radiation does travel throughout the body, the radioactive substance mostly collects in the area of the tumor, so there’s still little effect on the rest of the body.
The decision to use radiation therapy depends on the type and stage of cancer, and other health problems a patient might have. Most types of radiation therapy don’t reach all parts of the body, which means they’re not helpful in treating cancer that has spread to many places within the body. Still, radiation therapy can be used to treat many types of cancer either alone or in combination with other treatments.
Goals of radiation therapy
It's important to remember each cancer and each person is different, radiation is often the treatment of choice for the following purposes:● To cure or shrink early-stage cancer
Some cancers are very sensitive to radiation. Radiation may be used by itself in these cases to make the cancer shrink or completely go away. Radiation may be used before surgery to shrink the tumor (this is called pre-operative therapy or neoadjuvant therapy), or after surgery to help keep the cancer from coming back (called adjuvant therapy)
●To stop cancer from coming back (recurring)
Cancer can spread from where it started to other body parts. In some cases, the area where the cancer most often spreads to may be treated with radiation to kill any cancer cells before they grow into tumors. For instance, people with certain kinds of lung cancer may get radiation to the head, even when there is no cancer known to be there, because their type of lung cancer often spreads to the brain.●To treat symptoms caused by advanced cancer
Sometimes cancer has spread too much to be cured. But some of these tumors can still be treated to make them smaller so that the person can feel better. Radiation might help relieve problems like pain, trouble swallowing or breathing, or bowel blockages that can be caused by advanced cancer. This is called palliative radiation.
●To treat cancer that has returned(recurred)
If a person's cancer has returned (recurred), radiation might be used to treat the cancer or to treat symptoms caused by advanced cancer. Whether radiation will be used after recurrence depends on many factors. Some tumors do not respond as well to radiation, so radiation might not be used even if they recur.
Types of radiation therapy
There are two broad types of radiation therapy that doctors use to treat cancers: internal and external.The type of radiation you might get depends on the kind of cancer you have and where it is. In some cases, more than one type is used●External beam radiation
External beam radiation is the most commonTrusted Source type of radiation treatment for cancer. External means that the energy beams come from a machine outside of the body. A healthcare professional precisely aims the beams, which penetrate the body to reach the cancer site. Another name called teletherapy.
●Internal radiation therapy
The second main type of radiation treatment is internal radiation therapy, also known as brachytherapy. During this treatment, a doctor places an implant containing radiation in or near the cancer site.The implants come in different shapes, which includeTrusted Source like tube, wire, capsule, seeds and pellets. ●Systemic radiation therapy
Systemic radiation therapy is another kind of internal radiation therapy. It requires a person to swallow a radioactive substance, which travels throughout the body to find and kill the cancerous cells. Alternatively, a healthcare professional may inject the radioactive substance into a person’s vein.
Types of cancer it treats
Doctors commonly use external beam radiation to treat the types of cancer such as breast cancer, lung cancer, prostate cancer, colon cancer, cancers of the head or neck.For brachytherapy, may be an especially effective treatment for cancers in certain parts of the body, including the cervix, vagina, uterus, rectum, head and neck, eye. A doctor may also recommend brachytherapy for cancers of the prostate, brain, lung, skin, breast, esophagus, anus and bladder.