Discuss The Pros And Cons Of Radiation Therapy

Chemotherapy and radiation are the two most common types of cancer treatments. Chemotherapy is a treatment where cancer patients are given specifically designed drugs that kill cancer cells. Radiation or radiotherapy is a treatment where cancerous tumors are targeted by high-doses of radiation in order to damage the cell’s DNA, causing it to die. While radiation and chemo may be effective on their own, an oncologist may recommend a combination of the two for patients who have an advanced stage cancer. People who have been a patient of cancer, no matter what age, can give the best advice and insight to a topic many know nothing about.

Using a combination of x-rays, gamma rays, and charged particles, radiation can target the DNA molecule in a cell and directly attack it or put charged particles in the DNA molecule that will damage the DNA molecule in the cell. This mean that for medical purposes radiation can be used to kill the cancer cells. Or, sometimes even cure someone of cancer. This also means that someone could have the option for either chemotherapy and radiation instead of just chemotherapy. Also, since radiation can kill cancer cells and be used as a cancer treatment, radiation can also be used shrink tumors.

From surgery to radium exposure to such extremes as radiation therapy, as doctors’ knowledge of the varying types of cancer, and the expansion of medical research regarding cancer has changed, so has the preferred method of treatment. Doctors and researchers dedicated to studying cancer have led to a greater understanding of cancer development; consequently the development of treatments and cures that are more effective, less harmful, have fewer side effects, and in some cases serve to prevent the spread of cancer.

Standard radiation treatments can be boosted during surgery, while the delivery of the main prescription can commence after recovery, leading to fewer side effects.

Radiation therapy is the ionization of atoms in tissues resulting in formation of highly reactive radicals in a well-defined, restricted volume (1). In other words, ionizing radiations are used to eradicate tumors and at the same time preserve structure and function of normal tissue. A limitation is prevented from being a problem. If bone marrow or neuronal cells are destroyed or injured, they do not regenerate. However, with radiation therapy, these cells are often saved from injury or destruction, unless the tumor is infecting bone marrow or neuronal cells. Today, radiation therapy is the most popular type of cancer therapy in use. It is used to treat one-half to two-thirds of all cancers, which translates to more than ten percent of the population

There are several treatment options in the fight against cancer (surgery, targeted therapy, immunotherapy, stem cell transplant and bone marrow and cord blood transplants etc.) The two most commonly used treatments are chemotherapy that uses drugs to destroy cancer cells, and radiation therapy that uses high-energy radiation to kill cancer cells by damaging their DNA. Aside from killing cancer cells treatment’s cause many more problems for the patient, including treatment induced diseases and death.

Treatment- Radiation treatment is the most common therapy/treatment for cancer. Its users high energy particles such as X-rays to destroy cancer cells. Killing the cancer cell, radiation treatment is also called radiotherapy, irradiation, or X-ray therapy.

Radiation therapy is the use special machines to convey high-energy rays that damage cancer cells and stop them from growing. The radiation can be directed to a specific area of the body or the whole body. Some side effects that come from the therapy are fatigue, hair loss, nausea, or red, dry, itchy skin.

Surgery is used to efficiently remove parts of the body containing cancerous cells. This includes the tumours, normal tissue around the tumour and lymph nodes. If they didn't remove the normal tissue that surrounds the tumour and it contained cancerous cells, then the cancer could redevelop. Chemotherapy is a form of drug therapy that uses either one type or numerous types of chemotherapy drugs combined to slow down the growth of cancer cells and eliminate them. Other types of drug therapy include hormonal therapy, biological therapy and targeted therapy. Radiation therapy focuses high concentrations of radiation onto the area containing cancer cells to damage them. This treatment has daily sessions to repeat the process, the cancer cells don’t heal before the next treatment and they die, while normal cells aren't affected because they are able to repair. Since radiation can permanently damage healthy cells, doctors must use a precise amount of radiation to destroy the cancer cells, but leave normal cells intact.

High doses of radiation kill cancer cells and stop them from spreading, while at low doses radiation is used to see insides of the human body, such as x-rays (WebMD).

Radiotherapy is a treatment for cancer which uses radiation to kill and damage cancer cells in order to stop them from growing or multiplying. The advanced radiotherapy technologies that are used in our world today allow treatment to be customised to a patient's tumor size, type, and location in the body. This advanced technology also minimizes the risk of damaging healthy cells, and minimizes potential side effects. The main purposes of using radiotherapy as treatment is to shrink tumors, kill cancer cells, and to provide relief from other painful symptoms.

There are numerous approaches that are taken when treating cancer and although they all have the same goal of accomplishing the treatments differ from the way they are administered to the way they work on one’s body. Differing to chemotherapy which happens to be one of the most common methods of treatment used radiation therapy just so happens to be used to target one specific area of the body where the cancerous cells are present and causes effect to that specific area as opposed to the whole body being exposed to cancer fighting drugs. This usually is the result of beams of intense energy where the power is normally coming from X-rays but can often times be delivered from other forms of energy. While it is not guaranteed that healthy cells

Radiotherapy, also called radiation therapy, is the treatment of cancer and other diseases with radiation. Radiotherapy is used when the entire primary tumor cannot be surgically removed. Radiotherapy deposits energy

People say you can’t fight fire with fire, however, radiation can do just that. Although radiation is known to cause many types of cancer, it is also one of the most effective cures. Radiation as a treatment has been used for years, but in recent years, modern technology allows radiation to become more effective and precise. Radiation is a positive treatment for cancer because it kills cancer cells, it is non-invasive, and it prevents cancer from coming back.

The area the area where a person gets radiation consists of all the tumor and a small area of regular tissue around it. The small area of regular tissue around the tumor is included because breathing and the moving of organ can affect the position of the tumor and to reduce the chance of getting cancer by killing the bad cells that have spread to regular ones.The use of radiation therapy began shortly after the discovery of radium and x-rays.In 1903, doctors reported the success of radium treating cancer.Doctors used the brachytherapy method, which is putting the radioactive material inside the body near the tumor.This method is still in use and has been improved to be more efficient.From the first use of radiation therapy to the 1950’s, doctors start to discover the side effects of over exposure.In 1965, radiation was use to treat liver cancer, which was previously incurable.In the 1980’s radiation becomes standard use and is used with chemotherapy for tumors that cannot be removed surgicaly.In the early 90’s, powerful computers allow the use of 3D imaging to help target tumors better and make better treatment plans.In the late 1990’s, a new method of radiation therapy is used to help protect important organs from radiation.In 1999, numerous methods for curing cancer are discovered.The future of