Radiation therapy also referred to as
radiotherapy, adequately treats cancer by making use of high-energy beams to
destroy cancerous cells. Though radiation therapy is much like X-ray, the
application of radiation in cancer treatment is much higher and is given for an
extended period of time. There are different forms of radiation, which are
given according to the kind and stage of cancer. Your oncologist will suggest
which therapy to be used depending on the stage, type, and location of your
cancer.
With appropriate planning, radiation
can be focused on the cancer and away from normal healthy tissues. The
treatment can be administered from more than one side of your body or from
different angles. Doctors may also suggest more than one type of radiation,
which may need more than one machine.
There
are two kinds of radiation therapy:
External Beam Radiation makes
use of special machines to provide a
high dose of radiation directly on the cancer affected site and a little on
healthy tissue at the outline of the tumor. Different machines are used for
different tumors and different parts of the body.
Internal Radiation, or Brachytherapy, makes use of radioactive material
that is placed in the body at the tumor site. These implants are small tubes,
capsules, or seeds which are filled with different kinds of radioactive
material and sealed.
Depending on each tumor, doctors will prescribe radiation therapy to fight cancer. However, they may also combine radiation
therapy with other forms of treatment and medicines to fight this fatal
disease.