Essay about Radiation Therapy

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.

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

Treatment plan could involve chemotherapy, radiation therapy, stem cell transplant, or possibly surgery. The chemotherapy given to the patient will most likely be through an IV, but can possibly be taken by mouth. Though this form of treatment can be extremely helpful, it can also cause potential side effects such as loss of hair, fatigue, decreased immune system, or stomatitis. Radiation therapy may be used either alone, or in addition to chemotherapy. This method is usually done with a machine that delivers high-energy radiation from the outside of the body to kill cancer cells and shrink tumors. This method is sometimes preferred, as it can target a small area of the body. Similar to chemotherapy, side effects may accompany radiation therapy. These can include: fatigue, sensitive skin, and various other problems to the area and surrounding areas that undergo

Radiation in general can be considered as double-edged sword because it may cause cancer, and at the same time it may be considered as an effective modality to treat it.

Radiation therapy can help us fight off cancer, and reduce the pain caused by cancer. Radiation can also be given to a patient before a surgery to help either improve the cure rates or to make the surgery easier. It could even replace the need of surgery all

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.

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

For instance, cancer treated with radiotherapy that consists of gamma radiation and x-radiation. The main difference between gamma rays and X-rays is the production leading to the intensity. Gamma rays being able to penetrate better are produced when atomic nuclei decay, and X-rays are produced when electrons hit a target or when they are rearranged within an atom. 39.6% of the men and women in the United States will be diagnosed with cancer and 50% of all the patients with cancer will be treated with radiotherapy (3). Radiotherapy is a precise method used to fight cancer compared to other methods, it is designed to more accurately target and destroy cancer cells, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that it gets rid of all of the cancer cells within say a tumor or cancerous growth.(18). Another drawback is that radiotherapy doesn’t necessarily have the best precision because the radiation can also hit the surrounding organs or cells that do not have cancer, which may debilitate structure and function of those areas. When radiotherapy is used in the abdominal area of the body it can affect the spleen, potentially causing irreversible damage. Two-point-three percent of the cancer patients have cancer in their abdominal area. This includes bladder, colon, rectum, kidney, renal pelvis, liver, pancreas, and stomach

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 is an important practice in a lot of hospital and clinics many people are not aware of. It is also known as Radiation Oncology, and it is for the treatment of cancer by using beams of high-energy waves called radiation as the UI Cancer Information Services defined it. Radiation therapy plays important role in helping cure cancer. Radiation therapy is given to cancer patients in order to kill the cancer cells or it may slower the growth of cancer cells (UI Cancer Information Services, 2011). Therapy can be used to reduce pain or pressure by shrinking tumor, in cases where cure is not possible. There are various methods to do the therapy and patient may receive one or combination of techniques depending upon the size,

Radiology represents a large branch of medicine that deals with radiant energy in the diagnosis and treatment of diseases. Within this field there are multiple modalities that all incorporate some level of radiation. For example, in radiation therapy, targeted energy is used eliminate cancer cells, shrink tumors, and ease the pain or discomfort of cancer related symptoms. The purpose of this paper will primarily be focusing on radiation therapy.

The side effects of radiation therapy are different from patient to patient. The two types of side effects are acute and chronic. Acute occur during the treatment and basically go away from the end of the treatment. The acute side effects are fatigue, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, mouth sore, loss of hair, and alopecia. Chronic occurs years after radiation therapy and it can become permanent.

This actually helps shrink the tumors, rather than just diagnose them. It uses high-energy radiation to help cure the tumors and kill the cancer cells. Gamma rays and charged particles are types of radiation used for cancer treatment. Treatment can be delivered in two ways; a machine outside the body which is an external beam, or a radioactive material that is placed in the body near the cancer cells, which is called brachytherapy (radiation therapy for cancer, n.d.). Radiation therapy is different from chemotherapy, which exposes the whole body to cancer-fighting drugs. Radiation therapy, on the other hand, is local, its aimed at, and effects only the parts it needs to. The, “goal is to damage cancer cells without harming healthy cells” (How does radiation therapy work, 2015). Radiation therapy is preferred to chemotherapy because it tends to not harm the rest of the body, just the spot that is needed. Radiation therapy is a good option when someone is diagnosed with cancer, even with the

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.