Radiotherapy: The Pros And Cons Of Radiation Therapy

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

I have always been interested in the medical field. My father is a physiotherapist and my mother has a bachelorette in Microbiology and is a laboratory technologist. I have grown up having science-themed discussions around the dinner table and books lying around the house. With the experience of my parents at their respected professions, I did not have the feeling that these paths were the correct fit for me. I liked the hands on side of physiotherapy but I wanted something more technology related. I searched the medical field for a career that combined my fascination for both human science and technology in addition to being able to interact with patients. My research on Radiation Therapy instantly established a thought that this is a career

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

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).

Radiation therapy is commonly used as a proven and widely accepted way to treat cancer. The American Cancer Society attests to this because of the extensive research they have done in this field. High-energy radiation damages a cell’s deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). When a cell divides, its DNA splits. According to the Mayo Clinic, radiation therapy is sometimes given with curative intent (that is, with the hope that the treatment will cure cancer, either by eliminating a tumor, preventing cancer recurrence, or by both). In such cases, radiation therapy may be used alone or in combination with surgery, chemotherapy, or all three. Radiation therapy may also be given with palliative intent. Palliative treatments are not intended to cure. Instead, they are meant to relieve certain symptoms and reduce

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

This note is very important, because radiation is a very dangerous thing and you have to make sure you know the steps and for what you’re doing. Never take a risk.

Cancer, like other illnesses does not discriminate. It affects the rich and the poor and anyone who is susceptible to it. According to the American Cancer Society, millions of people are diagnosed each year. With these diagnostics, there are also many deaths. This is because some people do not respond to treatment or they come in too late. There have been some cases where there are no treatments or cures for the type of cancer as well. Cancer is like a plague and it has to be stopped and it takes the job of  radiation therapists and many other oncology specialists to come together to defeat it.

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

According to the researchers of mayoclinic.org, Radiation Oncology is the practice of regulating high dosages of radiation to kill cancerous cells. In this job several small tasks accumulate into a complex system. A radiation oncologist can expect to: place radioactive material into the body to locate and pinpoint tumors, keep detailed records of treatment proficiency, examine and create machinery to diminish harmful exposure to radiation, and to console other oncologists about methods such as chemotherapy and stem-cell treatment. As a young child, I decided to delve into the study of cancer based on watching my mother battle the disease (mayoclinic.org).

Radiation therapy is the use of radiation as a treatment, mainly for the elimination of cancerous tumors. It does this by damaging the DNA in the cancerous cells using very high doses of radiation. Damaging these cells prevents

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

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.