Radiation Therapy Advantages And Disadvantages

Cancer is defined as the abnormal, uncontrolled division of cells in the body. This uncontrollable growth causes a growth or tumour on the body. The tumours that are formed can either be benign or malignant. Malignant tumours can attack other cells and destroy them. Cancer has been around for ages and millions of people have died from cancer. There are many types of cancer and there are different reasons why people get cancer. Luckily, there are many treatments in place to help people who have cancer. Some popular options for treating cancer would be surgically removing the tumour or growth, or undergoing radiation therapy or chemotherapy. These treatments are commonly used amongst patients who have cancer. Alternatively there is another treatment that could be used to cure cancer, Proton Therapy. Proton Therapy works by directing a strong dose of radiation to the cancerous tumour (Advanced Particle Therapy, n.d.). In this essay, the advantages and disadvantages of Proton Therapy will be discussed in

After the surgery and resting time my mom had, she then had gotten the news she could now do radiation. Radiation is the emission of energy as electromagnetic waves or as moving subatomic particles, especially high-energy particles that cause ionization. Basically, doctors go in and insert tubes into your body, and make sure the cancer is fully gone.

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

Radiation therapy can be used anywhere in the body to treat any kind of cancer. Depending on what type of radiation therapy, it can have some side effects. The most common ones include fatigue, hair loss near the treated area, and skin darkening in the area exposed to a beam of radiation. ("Radiation Therapy for Cancer,” 1) There are also safety concerns that patients have when they are treated with radiation therapy. Many people that receive radiation therapy treatment, worry about exposing family and love ones to radiation, as well as the side effects. Radiation effects on the normal tissues are divided into acute and chronic effects (Schreiber). Acute effects occur during the course of therapy and during the post therapy period (approximately 2-3 weeks after the completion of a course of irradiation) (Schreiber).

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.

High-energy rays (radiation therapy) to help shrink or kill the tumor. There are different types of radiation therapy,

It is the use of high-powered x-rays that destroy tumor cells. A radiation oncologist is the doctor who specializes in radiation therapy. There are two types of radiation therapy: 1.) external-beam radiation which is given from a machine outside the body and 2.) internal radiation which is given using implants. The external-beam radiation therapy is much more common than internal radiation. It can be directed at the tumor in many ways such as conventional radiation therapy, 3 dimensional conformal radiation therapy, intensity modulated radiation therapy, proton therapy, stereotactic radiosurgery, and fractionated stereotactic radiosurgery. Choosing one of these techniques depends on the size and location of the

Therapeutic nuclear medicine is used in many different ways to help and treat patients when they are fighting cancer or other diseases. Doctors will take the steps to do whatever they can to make sure that the patient will survive or at least achieve improvement in their health to some degree. When a patient is undergoing surgery to remove the cancer cells, the doctors will often have them go through radiation beforehand to shrink the cancer or tumor down to a size that is easier to remove and to ensure they are not removing more than necessary. Often during surgery, the surgeons will again treat the patient with radiation while they are open so that the radiation is hitting the direct tumor or cancer cells being targeted. Another benefit is that it provides the radiation treatment without having to direct it through the skin again. This reduces the amount of radiation that the patient is getting to a certain degree. Once the surgery is over, the patient will often have to continue with more treatments to make sure that, if anything was missed, it will be attacked by the radiation and be prevented from spreading. Eliminating the cancerous cells can often take more than one type of medical therapy, and it can often take multiple treatments (Radiation

Chemotherapy uses drugs that are designed to slow or stop the division of cancer cells. It targets cells that are in the process of dividing into two new cells and kills them, some drugs destroy the cell's control center and kills the cell, and some disrupts the chemical processes in cell division. Side effects of chemotherapy include nausea, vomiting, hair loss, and low red blood cell numbers. Because chemotherapy kills rapidly dividing cells like cancer, other normal cells that divide rapidly are also killed. Hair, bone marrow, and skin cells are constantly dividing to grow more hair, produce red blood cells, and replace dead skin cells. Radiation therapy uses targeted energy like x rays or radioactive substances to kill or shrink tumors. There are three types of radiation therapy delivery methods. External beam radiation therapy uses an external machine that directs radiation onto cancer cells. Internal radiation therapy uses radioactive material that is placed directly or near a tumor with a catheter. Systemic radiation therapy uses a radioactive substance that is swallowed or injected and travels through the bloodstream and locates and kills cancer cells. Side effects of radiation therapy depend on which part of the body the treatment is applied, some common general side effects are fatigue, and itching, blistering, or peeling of the skin. In the head and neck it can cause tooth decay, and mouth and gum sores, in the chest it can cause radiation pneumonitis, which causes a cough and fever, and radiation fibrosis, which is scarring of the lungs caused by untreated radiation pneumonitis. Radiation therapy causes side effects because high doses of radiation is applied to areas of the body which kill cancer cells, but also damages healthy cells near the treatment

tumors are treated but if surgery is not a viable treatment radiation can also be used.

Radiation therapy plays a very important role in some peoples lives. It mostly applies to people who have cancer. Radiation therapy is used to not necessarily cure cancer but to eliminate tumors, which may in fact cure some people of their cancer. This could be a life changing experience for many people. There are many opportunities for a person pursuing a career in radiology and more specifically radiation therapy or oncology. Radiation therapy is a difficult yet fulfilling field that has many different aspects to it.

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.

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

     Radiation is another type of treatment. Radiation therapy uses a special machine to deliver high energy rays that damage cancer cells and stop then from growing. These rays may be detected in the entire body, or they may be focused on certain area where leukemia cells are collecting.( Disease facts and statistics, 30)

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.