Radiation Therapy Case Study

Question:

Explain the radiation therapy and other therapeutic strategy in the treatment of tumor.

INTRODUCTION

Radiation therapy or radiotherapy, is defined as various forms of radiation used to treat cancer and other diseases [1]. Main focus of radiotherapy is to cure cancer, to control the growth of the cancer and to relieve symptoms, such as pain. Radiation therapy works by damaging the DNA within cancer cells and destroying the ability of the cancer cells to reproduce [2]. When these damaged cancer cells die, the body naturally eliminates them. The radiation will affect the normal cells will also affected by radiation, however they are able to repair themselves from the radiation in a way that cancer cells cannot [6]. Sometimes radiation therapy is the only treatment a patient needs, and in other way, it is only one part of a

For example, tumours that are causing difficulty swallowing or are causing bleeding. Another goal is to alleviate pain by reducing the size of the tumour. If the patient is pregnant, radiation can be extremely harmful to the unborn child and some measures must be taken.

Two methods to deliver the radiation to the tumour, which are External Beam Radiation Therapy and Brachytherapy [1]. The radiation type will be determined based on the location of the disease. The patient need to lie still on a table and breathe normally, while the machine rotates around the patient. There is no feeling to the radiation treatments. External beam radiation therapy is a method of delivering radiation (high energy x-rays or electrons) from outside the patient and is targeted at the tumour site and surrounding area [3]. The radiation comes from a treatment machine called a linear accelerator.

TYPES OF RADIATION