Radiation Therapy Essay Example

streams of particles called radiation (Nih 5). The radiation used for cancer treatment comes from special machines or from radioactive substances (5). Radiation therapy equipment aims specific amounts of radiation at tumors or areas of the body where there is disease (5).

This technique works because radiation with the right dose destroys the cancer cells ability to reproduce.High doses of radiation kill cancer cells and stop them from spreading, while at low doses radiation is used to see insides of the human body, such as x-rays (WebMD). There are several ways radiation therapy can be delivered. Radiation therapy can be external or internal. The most common way is by external radiation in which a radiation is directed at the tumor from a machine (Dollinger, Rosenbaum 62).

Internal or systemic radiotherapy delivers radiation by giving a radioactive source intravenously or by injection (62).Depending on the type of cancer, some people are treated with both types of therapy. Radiation therapy can be used anywhere in the body to treat any kind of cancer. Depending on what type of radiation therapy, it can have some side effects.

The most common ones include fatigue, hair loss near the treated area, and skin darkening in the area exposed to a beam of radiation. ("Radiation Therapy for Cancer,” 1) There are also safety concerns that patients have when they are treated with radiation therapy.Many people that receive radiation therapy treatment, worry about exposing family and love ones to radiation, as well as the side effects. Radiation effects on the normal tissues are divided into acute and chronic effects (Schreiber).

Acute effects occur during the course of therapy and during the post

therapy period (approximately 2-3 weeks after the completion of a course of irradiation) (Schreiber). Chronic effects can manifest anytime thereafter, from weeks to years after the treatment (Schreiber). While experiencing radiation therapy, cancer patients are cared for by radiation medical professionals.Sophisticated technology, such as IMRT and 3-D conformal radiation therapy allows radiation professionals to deliver doses of radiation for the cancer without damages healthy tissue cells (National Cancer Institute).

Contemporary treatment-planning computers allow for the incorporation of 3-dimensional anatomic data to be used for planning of radiation fields (Schreiber). Using beam's-eye-view technology, the field of radiation can be planned so that the physician is assured that the radiation field adequately covers the target and spares or minimizes the dose to the nontarget healthy tissues (Schreiber).During a period of several decades after the German physicist Wilhelm Konrad Roentgen discovered x-rays in 1895, radiation evolved from a source of public fascination and scientific acclaim to a source of widespread public fear and scientific controversy (Walker 1). Shortly after Roentgen discovered radiographs in 1895, their clinical usefulness as a means of cancer treatment was first appreciated (Schreiber). Over the years, as the medical understanding and use of radiation has greatly increased, Radiation Therapy has developed into a sophisticated science.It must now be administered by doctors, called radiation Oncologists, who specialize in this mode of treatment (Sherry 163).

According to the National Cancer Institute, for most people with cancer, living with the disease is the biggest challenge they have ever faced. The disease changes your routines, roles and relationships. It can cause money and work problems. Radiation treatments can change the way you feel and look. Surviving cancer can

be a tremendous battle.

About 50 to 60 percent of cancer patients are treated with radiation during their disease (National Cancer Institute).Dealing with the issues that come with cancer and therapy can be a challenge. In the United States, continual advances in cancer therapy have significantly prolonged the lives of cancer patients (Sherry 315). Whereas in the 1930s, fewer than 20% of cancer patients could be expected to survive 5 years after diagnosis, today nearly 50% of all cancer patients are cured (315).

Currently, the U. S. population includes more than 7 million cancer survivors, or fully 2% of the general pop¬ulation, with the number expected to grow to 10 million by the year 2000 (315).Today medical professionals and cancer patients acknowledge and respect the need for radiation therapy. Thanks to radiation and technology, patients have an advantage on surviving cancer, and grasping a new lease on life. Works Cited Day, Mary E.

, and Michelangelo Delfino. CANCER: We Live and Die by Radiation. Los Altos: MoBeta Publishing, 2006. Dollinger, Malin, and Ernest Rosenbaum. Everyone's Guide to Cancer Therapy; Revised 5th Edition: How Cancer is Diagnosed,Treated, and Managed Day to Day (Everyone's Guide to Cancer Therapy).

Kansas City: Andrews McMeel Publishing, 2007. Life After Cancer Treatment - National Cancer Institute. " Comprehensive Cancer Information - National Cancer Institute. 25 Aug. 2008 <http://www. cancer.

gov/cancertopics/life-after-treatment>. Nih, Barry Leonard. Radiation Therapy and You: A Guide to Self-help During Treatment (NIHPN912227). National Institutes Of Health, 1990. Pettigrew, Mark, and Kathryn Whyman.

Radiation (Science World). UK: Franklin Watts Ltd, 2004. "Radiation Therapy for Cancer-Topic Overview. " WebMD - Better information. Better health.

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Gary. "eMedicine - Radiation Therapy, General Principles : Article by Gary J Schreiber. " eMedicine The Continually Updated Clinical Reference. 25 Aug. 2008 <http://www.

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Samuel. Permissible Dose: A History of Radiation Protection in the Twentieth Century. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000.