Our View On Stereotactic Radiotherapy

Nuclear medicine is a certain branch of medicine that uses a specific type of radiation to give out important information about how a person's specific organs work. As well as, showing the organ and treating a disease that is inside of it. When information gets viewed by special physicians, they make sure to get a quick, accurate diagnosis of what the patient's illness is right away. The main organs that can be easily imaged by the nuclear medicine is the thyroid, bones, heart, liver, lungs, and the gallbladder. There are many hospitals that use the radiation; called radioisotope, in medicines. The most common one is named Technetium-99, which is used in medical diagnostic procedures annually. Nuclear medicine was created in the 1950s by physicians

Once a person has been diagnosed with brain cancer, treatment should begin immediately. Treatment for brain tumors involves any combination of surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy. Some tumors require several different surgical procedures; some can be treated with radiation alone. Surgery is the best process to remove a brain tumor. Surgery attempts to remove most, if not all of the tumor. Once most of the tumor is removed, the rest of the tumor can be removed through a process called radiotherapy.

Furthermore, X-ray of higher energy than required for imaging is used for radiation therapy. The radiation therapy makes use of ionization radiation (and no images) for the treatment of diseases, such as

- Even though the X-ray expose patient to harmful radiation it is used to see inside the human body and diagnose broken bones, gallstones and later tuberculosis.

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).

Cancer is an incurable and unpredictable disease that, if left untreated, will likely result in death for the men, women, and children who must fight it. Sadly, approximately 36% of people will develop cancer during their lifetime, and of that percentage, fewer than 15% will survive, according to the National Cancer Institute. Along with surgery and chemotherapy, radiation is one of the few known methods for treating cancer, but it does not come without harmful side effects. While radiation therapy is currently a proven method for treating cancer, dangers to patients often outweigh its benefits, therefore a safer method for effectively treating and ultimately curing cancer.

Nuclear Medicine is the use of radioisotopes for diagnosis, treatment, and research. Radioactive chemical tracers emit gamma rays which provides diagnostic information about a person's anatomy and the functioning of specific organs. Radioisotopes are also utilizes in treatments of diseases such as cancer. It is estimated that approximately one in two people in Western countries are likely to experience the benefits of nuclear medicine in their lifetime.

In addition, Interventional radiologists may sub-specialize further so that they only treat abnormalities of the brain. And the Radiation oncology uses radiation to treat diseases such as cancer, using radiation therapy. These specialists are not called radiologists, but radiation oncologists, even though they belong to the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Radiologists. These three fields are alike in that they all use a form of imaging device in order to help them to treat and interpret treatment for the patient. The biggest contrast between the fields of Diagnostic Radiologist, Interventional Radiologist, and Radiation Radiologist is how they use the tools of their trade. Each of the fields will use the imaging devices in a different manner for their treatment of the

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 the oldest type of treatment for cancer. In its earlier use, surgery was not as successful as it is today. This was due to the difficulties involved with the anesthesias, excessive blood loss,

Lung cancer has become the second most common cancer in both men and women which is by far the leading cause of cancer death among people1.Radiation therapy is used as one of the main treatment strategies for Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) especially if the lung tumor is not surgically removable because of its size and location2, 3. Stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) has evolved over the past two decades and shows advantages over conventional radiation therapy which delivers higher radiation dose to tumor while avoiding healthy surrounding tissues and organs in several (up to five) treatment fractions4.

X-rays and gamma rays are used in medicine to diagnose and treat diseases. X-rays are used mostly for diagnostic testing to produce images of the bones, but they are also used in chemotherapy to treat cancer. Gamma rays can kill living cells, so it is also used in chemotherapy to kill tumor cells. They are also used to kill harmful bacteria and sterilize medical equipment. Gamma rays are used a lot in nuclear medicine to detect abnormalities in the body. (“GCSE Bitesize: X-rays and gamma rays,”

Radiology is the process of working and viewing inside the human body without breaking the skin. By using radiant energy, which may take the form of x-rays or other types of radiation, we are able to diagnose and treat many diseases and injuries. Both diagnostic and therapeutic radiology involve the use of

In 2007, it is predicted that almost 1.5 million people will be diagnosed with cancer in the United States (Pickle et al., 2007). More than half of these cancer patients will undergo the use of radiation as a means for treating cancer at some point during the course of their disease (Perez and Brady, 1998). Cancer, a disease caused by an uncontrollable growth of abnormal cells, affects millions of people around the world. Radiotherapy is one of the well known various methods used to treat cancer, where high powered rays are aimed directly at the tumor from the outside of the body as external radiation or an instrument is surgically placed inside the body producing a result of internal radiation. Radiation is delivered to the cancerous regions of the body to damage and destroy the cells in that area, terminating the rapid growth and division of the cells. Radiation therapy has been used by medicine as a treatment for cancer from the beginning of the twentieth century, with its earliest beginnings coming from the discovery of x-rays in 1895 by Wilhelm Röntgen. With the advancements in physics and computer programming, radiation had greatly evolved towards the end of the twentieth century and made the radiation treatment more effective. Radiation therapy is a curative treatment approach for cancer because it is successful in killing cancerous tumor cells and stop them from regenerating.

The use of radioactive elements in medicine is still growing to this day. Many oncologists use it to treat their patients who have cancer. Many cancer patients use this option. They use the radiation to kill off cancer cells. X-ray technicians or radiologists will also use it to administer x-rays to people who may have a broken bone, or need an MRI. The patient is injected with a radioactive material that helps the doctor be able to see inside the body better, whether it be with pictures or ultrasound. Radioactive material is defined as “material that contains radioactivity and thus emits ionizing radiation. It may be material that contains natural radioactivity from the environment or a material that may have been made radioactive.” (The Healthy Physics Society). This happens when someone needs a colonoscopy. They have to drink or are injected with this liquid that helps their organs and all other masses in the body be seen better by the radioactive materials.