Radiation Therapy

The treatments of breast cancer include surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy and hormonal therapy. The use of ionizing radiation in the treatment of cancer to control the malignant cells is known as radiation therapy. Radiation therapy or radiotherapy is part of the treatment procedures used in any type of cancer and it should not be confused with radiology. Radiation Therapy is sometimes used for curative or adjuvant treatment of breast cancer. Radiation therapy is given to a patient when no cure is possible but only to give some relief or control the disease from spreading further. As a matter of fact radiation therapy can also be used as a therapeutic treatment on breast cancer patients by virtue of which the survival benefit is increased but without any curative effect. Total Body irradiation is another radiotherapy which is used when a patient will undergo a bone marrow transplant.

Radiation Therapy is also applied to treat some non-malignant conditions. In the treatment of trigeminal neuralgia, preventing the growth of keloid scar, in case of severe thyroid eye diseases and in order to prevent of heterotopic ossification radiation therapy is used. However radiotherapy is not much used in treating non-malignant cases because it may induce cancer.

Radiotherapy is commonly used as a principal therapy to treat malignant tumors or any cancer growth in breasts and other pats of the body. However to treat extreme cases of carcinoma, radiotherapy is combined with surgery, chemotherapy, hormone therapy or some mixture of the three. For almost 100 years radiation therapy is used in the treatment of cancer. German physicist Wilhelm Conrad Rontgen coined the concept of therapeutic radiation with the discovery of x-ray as a powerful and effective means to treat cancer.

Almost all the common cancer types are treated with radiotherapy in some way. The exact type of treatment whether curative, adjuvant, neoadjuvant, therapeutic, or palliative depends on the type of the tumor, its location, and the stage of development, and also on the general health of the patient.

There are two types of radiation therapy- Internal and external radiotherapy. Internal radiotherapy is given by placing radioactive implants directly on the tumor. Externally radioactive liquid is given through the mouth or injections. Radiotherapy destroys the malignant cells in the affected area by damaging the genetic material of the cells thus making it impossible for them to grow once more. However with the use of radiotherapy the normal cells also gets temporarily damaged but they repair themselves quite faster.

Radiation therapy is painless but has long lasting side effects. The side effects of radiotherapy include damage of the normal cells, temporary or permanent loss of hair, irritation of the skin, change in the color of the skin, weakness. Radiotherapy is generally used in the treatment of cancers of skin, tongue, larynx, breast, uterine cervix or brain. It is also used to treat leukemia and lymphoma.

Gamma rays in the form of partial beam radiation therapy known as high linear energy transfer radiation which uses sub-atomic particles like neutrons and pions and heavy ions are used to treat breast cancer.

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