Radio Therapy Research Paper

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.

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.

Doctors had been using radiation to destroy cancerous cells since the unfolding of X-rays and radium in the 1890s, but both techniques had their own issues. X-ray machines were complicated to make use of, and radium implanted near tumors. In addition, X-rays weren’t strong enough to be entirely effective, and as for both of them, they were quite expensive.

cancer cells, either by killing the cells or by stopping them from dividing. Radiation therapy is a treatment that uses high-energy x-rays or other types of radiation to kill cancer cells or keep them from growing. Immunotherapy is a treatment that uses the patient’s immune system to fight cancer. Lastly targeted therapy, is the treatment that uses drugs and other substances to attack cancer cells. Some of these treatments are standard and others are being clinically tested in clinical trials. Patients may enter clinical trials before, during, or after starting their cancer treatment. Follow-up tests may be needed.

Radiation Therapy is often used to treat the the cancer (CML) if it has moved/spread outside of the bone marrow and into other parts of the body.

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

The process of radiation therapy uses small amounts of very high-energy radiation to destroy the cancerous cells, making them unable to reproduce. "About 60% of all patients with cancer receive radiation therapy for curative intent, tumor control, or palliation of

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.

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,

Chemotherapy is given in cycles a treatment period followed by a recovery period, then another treatment period and so on. The drug enters the blood stream and destroys leukemia cells throughout the body. However, they cannot reach the brain and spinal cord, because of a protective network of blood vessels that keep foreign substances from entering the central nervous system. In certain cases doctors need to inject the drug directly into the fluid that surrounds the brain and spinal cord. (Health a to z, 20)

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.

Radiation therapy is the use of high energy x-rays or other particles to destroy cancer cells. The radiation may be delivered by a machine outside the body called external-beam radiation therapy, or it may come from radioactive material that is placed in the body near the cancer cells, that is called internal radiation therapy, or brachytherapy.