RADIATION THERAPY FOR CANCERS
By Antin. Radiation therapy for cancer is given by several different methods. In general, radiation for cancer is used when a region of the body is to be treated.
· External radiation treatment refers to treatment to an area of the body by exposing it to a beam of X-rays. The treatment takes only a minute or so and is repeated each day, usually for about 20-25 treatments. The X-rays radiation penetrates the body and deposit energy in the tissues. This deposition of energy causes injury to the cells in its path, the normal as well as the cancerous. The normal cells are also injured but are able to repair themselves better then the cancer cells. Thus the cancer cells are selectively killed more than are the normal cells.
· Radiation implants for cancer. Other terms for this are: intra-caviar implant, interstitial implant, radium implant, cesium implant, high dose rate insertion, needle implant. The overall term is Brach therapy which means slow therapy. These implants are placed in the cancer itself or right next to it and are usually left in place for several hours or several days and then removed. The implant is loaded with a radioactive source that gives off radiation to the surrounding tissue while it is in place. Brach therapy is a method for giving very high doses of radiation to a specific implanted site while sparing the surrounding tissues.
The amount of radiation treatment administered is determined by the tolerance of the normal tissues that are also irradiated. Standard doses for specific areas of the body have been developed by past experience. There is always a trade off: the probability of cure cancer Vs the risk of complications. If doses of radiation treatment too high probably also kill patients beside kill the cancer, but if too low there will be no side effects but also probably will not cure cancer. Radiation treatment complications mainly depend on what normal tissue is being irradiated.
May 30th, 2009 at 8:56 pm
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