Radiation Therapy
Radiation Therapy (also called radiotherapy) is a treatment that uses high doses of radiation to kill cancer cells, slow the spread of cancer cells or help reduce symptoms. It is also used to treat some non-cancerous conditions.
Radiation therapy is a very common form of cancer therapy. In fact, more than half (about 60 percent) of people with cancer get radiation therapy. Treatment is painless and is typically delivered 5 days a week, Monday through Friday, for a period of days or weeks.
Radiation therapy can be administered in two forms:
- External beam radiation therapy comes from a machine that aims radiation at your cancer. The machine is large and may be noisy. It does not touch you, but rotates around you, sending radiation to your body from many directions. It is a local treatment, meaning that the radiation is aimed only at a specific part of your body. For example, if you have lung cancer, you will get radiation to your chest only and not the rest of your body.
- Internal radiation therapy is a form of treatment where a source of radiation is put inside your body. One form of internal radiation therapy is called brachytherapy. In brachytherapy the radiation source (in the form of seeds, ribbons, capsules or an electronic device) is placed in your body in or near the cancer cells. This allows treatment with a high dose of radiation to a smaller part of your body.
Radiation therapy may be combined with other forms of treatment, such as surgery or chemotherapy. Your Oncologist will work closely with you to determine the best type of treatment for your specific cancer.