Radiotherapy

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Cancer has become increasingly common phenomenon these days, with advent of better diagnostics, awareness and changes in environment. The cause of cancer is multi factorial and varies from various types of cancer, for eg. smoking is associated with at least ten types of cancer the strongest and clear cut association being for lung cancer. Similarly, HPV virus is associated in cervical and oral cancers. The new era is herald by rapid advancements in technology and understanding of the tumor biology with development of more targeted therapies.

What Is Radiotherapy ?

Radiotherapy is the use of high energy x-rays and similar rays (such as electrons) to treat disease.

radiotherapy-treatmentSince the discovery of x-rays over one hundred years ago, radiation has been used more and more in medicine, both to help with diagnosis (by taking pictures with x-rays), and as a treatment (radiotherapy). While radiation obviously has to be used very carefully, doctors and radiographers have a lot of experience in its use in medicine.

Many people with cancer will have radiotherapy as part of their treatment. This can be given either as external radiotherapy| from outside the body using x-rays or from within the body as internal radiotherapy.

Radiotherapy works by destroying the cancer cells in the treated area. Although normal cells can also be damaged by the radiotherapy, they can usually repair themselves.

Radiotherapy treatment can cure some cancers and can also reduce the chance of a cancer coming back after surgery. It may be used to reduce cancer symptoms.
Some people find that the side effects are very mild and that they just feel tired during their course of radiotherapy treatment.

There Are Two Main Types Of Radiotherapy Treatment : –

  • External Radiotherapy
  • Internal Radiotherapy
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