How Does Radiation Therapy Work For Breast Cancer

Radiation is an important and often necessary form of anti cancer therapy because it is able to reduce the risk of recurrence after surgery. A cancer diagnosis may mean radiation therapy.

Five Tips For Coping With Breast Radiotherapy Breast Cancer Now
breastcancernow.org

It can also be used in adjuvant therapy to prevent cancer recurrence after the tumor has been.

How does radiation therapy work for breast cancer. Radiation therapy also known as radiotherapy is sometimes used to treat breast cancer. Who gets radiation therapy. It shrinks tumors and kills cancer cells.

Download ascos free radiation therapy fact sheet. More than half of people with cancer get radiation therapy. In fact the risk of developing a second tumor because of radiation therapy is very low.

It involves the use of ionizing radiation to kill cancer cells either for curative purposes if a tumor is localized or palliative care to ensure comfort and quality of life if a malignancy cannot be cured. Sometimes radiation therapy is the only cancer treatment needed. For many people radiation therapy can cure the cancer.

This 1 page printable pdf gives an introduction to radiation therapy including an overview of the different types of radiation what to expect during treatment possible side effects terms to know and questions to ask the health care team. A patient who receives radiation therapy as a treatment for cancer will receive several thousand rads over a very short period of time weeks or months. The radiation is used to destroy undetectable cancer cells and reduce the risk of cancer recurring in the affected breast.

A rad is the scientific unit of measure of radiation energy dose. This benefit far outweighs any small risk that the treatment could cause a later cancer. Radiation therapy may be given before during or after these other treatments to improve the chances that treatment will work.

Most radiation therapy is administered by a radiation oncologist at a radiation center and usually begins three to four weeks after surgery. This treatment can cause side. Some patients are concerned that radiation therapy will cause another cancer.

The timing of when radiation therapy is given depends on the type of cancer being treated and whether the goal of radiation therapy is to treat the cancer or ease symptoms. Although its quite possible that your surgeon removed all the cancer breast cancer surgery cannot guarantee that every last cancer cell has been removed from your body. Radiation therapy uses high energy x rays ionizing radiation to stop cancer cells from dividing.

Even though this type of radiation does travel throughout the body the radioactive substance mostly collects in the area of the tumor so theres little effect on the rest of the body. The goal is to destroy or damage the cancer without hurting too many healthy cells. Radiation therapy treats cancer by using high energy waves to kill tumor cells.

Learn the types of therapy cancers each treats and side effects.

Managing The Adverse Effects Of Radiation Therapy American
www.aafp.org