Advantages And Disadvantages Of Radiotherapy

The total time that a patient spend in clinic (a usual patient, without specification if he/she is new or a follow-up), is 117.8 minutes.

Then, the office makes the appointment, and the call goes to the nurses and/ or EMT’s. Our job is to save Medicare dollars, so we try to keep patients from being in the hospital and/or nursing home(s) for less than three days. When this is accomplished,

You first visit to our office will take about 90 minutes to complete. After signing in (download your new patient forms

The patients are recommended to go through 24 sessions and each session occurs twice a week that last

Late Radiation Morbidity Scoring Criteria were used to score toxicity according to The Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG)[8]. Toxicities were assessed in regular clinic visit every 2 weeks through treatment periodand monthly after ending of treatment

alliative radiotherapy will not cure your cancer but can help slow down its growth and relieve symptoms such as pain.

One of the most important things a treatment for cancer has to do is kill the cells that make the cancer. Radiation is highly effective at doing this, in fact “About half of all cancer patients receive some type of radiation therapy sometime during

The taking the harmed individual to the clinic will take around 60 minutes 1 hour and 29 minutes, much else besides thirty minutes gets adjusted to the cost of 60 minutes.

Radiation Therapy is the use of high energy radiation to damage cancer cells and prevent them from growing and dividing. More than 70% of cancer patients have undergone radiation therapy treatment (1). While radiation therapy today seems to be a very common medical treatment for cancer, there are still several risks a patient takes when choosing to undergo this treatment. There are obvious physical risks that happen that most people are aware of, however, many people do not think about the psychological damage that can occur as a side effect. Do the benefits outweigh the uncertain success of this treatment? Ultimately, the patient has to consider if the risk is worth the reward.

Internal Radiation is what usually is used when external therapy is not as efficient as it should be since the purpose of internal radiation is to allow a higher dosage of radiation to be given to a particular small cancerous area that the external is not able to deliver to. The way this is distributed is through something known as an implant and it is just as it is sounds since something is implanted inside or extremely near the tumor.

Radiotherapy stands out in cancer treatment plans very apparently. Because of its fast and almost accurate results compared to other treatment methods. It is better than the use of chemotherapy as chemotherapy exposes the entire body to cancer-fighter medication. Whereas radiotherapy concentrate only on the affected area and cause less harm possible to the adjacent tissue.

A recently published multicenter RCT designed to address this topic 26, comparing RP vs RT (a combination of external beam RT and brachitherapy) has enrolled only 89 patients over 5 years, with an insufficient statistical power to make any inference on oncological outcomes.

There has been much success in the growing field of radiation therapy. Many measures have been put into place to ensure the safety of those exposed to radiation and that the treatment itself is administered properly. Although these measures are in place there isn’t too much doctors are able to do to prevent side effects. The University of Maryland Medical Center lists hair loss, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, low white blood cells, mouth ulcers, and red or itchy skin as some of the possible short-term side effects. Some breast cancer patients who have received radiation therapy treatments described side effects such as “pain spasms that felt like electricity shooting [through] my breast at unexpected intervals” (Melliel) and having “very red sore skin” (Gramabec). There are also long-term side effects that come along with radiation therapy. Depending on where a patient receives treatment they can be at risk for damage to the lungs, heart, bladder, and bowels. Some people may even experience fertility issues. Another risk of radiation therapy is getting a second cancer several years later. Although rare, this side effect was noticed when scientists realized that women who received radiation therapy for Hodgkin’s lymphoma later had an increased risk for developing breast cancer than women who did not receive the same treatment (Long-term). Though these side effects may make some people want to opt out of radiation therapy the benefit outweighs the risk here. There are risks with

There are millions of patient success stories from treating their cancer with photon radiation therapy, but several experts have concerns about the effect on the body overall.

The article is published on International Journal of Radiation Oncology on 2nd of February 2015. Source of funding comes from Various Australian health institutions, research institutions, government bodies and Australian National Health and medical research council practitioner fellow award. There is no conflict of interest present.