Radiation Therapy
Radiation therapy is uses high-energy radiation, like x-rays, gamma rays, and other charged particles, to shrink tumors and kill cancer cells. Almost every patient with cancer uses radiation as a form of treatment.
You may be asking: how does radiation kill cancer cells, exactly? Radiation damages the DNA, either by full on attacking it or planting some charged particles in the cells and attacking it from there. In other words, it keeps the cancer cells from multiplying. With enough radiation therapy, the body's natural processes can kill the cancer cells on it's own.
There are two general types of radiation: external and internal. External radiation uses radiation to treat tumors in your head, bone, abdomen, chest, and other organs.
Despite the benefits of radiation therapy, there are some side effects. The radiation also attacks normal cells and tissues. This means that more sensitive areas on your body, reproductive organs and hair follicles, are damaged more easily than the bones. Doctors take this into account before they suggest radiation therapy for the patient.
Some side affects of radiation on the brain:
Now down to the nitty-gritty details. The doctor who specializes in radiation therapy is a radiation oncologist, and for a brain tumor it would be a radiation neuro-oncologist; or just a neuro-radiologist. The types of scans used are computed tomography (known at as a CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), positron emission tomography (PET), and ultrasound scans.
After the scan(s), the radiation oncologist determines the exact area for treatment and exactly how much radiation is required. Radiation doses are measured in grays (Gy), which is "a measure of the amount of radiation energy absorbed by 1 kilogram of human tissue" (www.cancer.gov).
Radiation can be considered, although very effective, very dangerous. If an area in the body has received radiation, there is a chance that radiation cannot be received in that area again. This all depends on how much radiation was received during the initial treatment.
There are many kinds of radiation therapy:
"Intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT): Uses hundreds of tiny beams for a single dose of radiation. The goal is to increase the radiation dose to the needed areas and reduce radiation exposure to specific sensitive areas of surrounding normal tissue.
Image-guided radiation therapy (IGRT): Scans are repeated to identify changes in a tumor’s size and location after treatment. This allows the position of the patient or the planned radiation dose to be adjusted during treatment as needed
Tomotherapy: Capture CT images of the patient’s tumor immediately before treatment sessions, to allow for very precise tumor targeting and sparing of normal tissue.
Stereotactic radiosurgery: Delivers one or more high doses of radiation to a small tumor.
Stereotactic body radiation therapy: Delivers radiation therapy in fewer sessions, and specifically to tumors that lie outside the brain and spinal cord.
Stereotactic radiotherapy: refers to a singe or several stereotactic radiation treatments of the brain or spine. SRS is delivered by a team involving a radiation oncologist and a neurosurgeon
[*Misha had this kind of radiation for her treatment.]
Proton therapy: The use of protons reduces the exposure of normal tissue to radiation, possibly allowing the delivery of higher doses of radiation to a tumor."
(from www.cancer.gov)
The second type of radiation therapy is internal radiation therapy. Internal radiation therapy is the kind of radiation that is placed in the affected area, either temporarily or permanently. This type of therapy delivers a high dose of radiation. Depending on the kind of cancer, the radioactive material is either placed directly into the affected area or in a sealed plastic container, which is known as an implant.
Internal radiation therapy is also called brachytherapy, or seed implantation for those non-doctor speaking people out there. These "seeds" are placed in the infected area. From there, it slowly releases radiation.
These seeds can remain in a single place for the patients life, or until they have lost their radiation (which is usually after a year).This therapy is not necessarily used to treat brain tumors. It is usually used for breast, cervical, ovarian, pelvic, head and neck, lung, perianal, and prostate cancer.
Cited:
"Radiation Therapy to the Brain." American Cancer Society. American Cancer Society, 14 Nov 2011. Web. 7 Jun 2012. <http://www.cancer.org/Treatment/TreatmentsandSideEffects/TreatmentTypes/Radiation/UnderstandingRadiationTherapyAGuideforPatientsandFamilies/understanding-radiation-therapy-radiation-to-brain>
"Stereotactic Radiation Therapy." RT Answers. ASTRO, n.d. Web. 7 Jun 2012. <http://www.rtanswers.org/treatmentinformation/treatmenttypes/stereotacticradiation.aspx>
"What is Internal Radiation Therapy?." UPMC Cancer Centers. UPMC, n.d. Web. 7 Jun 2012. <http://www.upmccancercenters.com/radonc/internal.cfm>.
You may be asking: how does radiation kill cancer cells, exactly? Radiation damages the DNA, either by full on attacking it or planting some charged particles in the cells and attacking it from there. In other words, it keeps the cancer cells from multiplying. With enough radiation therapy, the body's natural processes can kill the cancer cells on it's own.
There are two general types of radiation: external and internal. External radiation uses radiation to treat tumors in your head, bone, abdomen, chest, and other organs.
Despite the benefits of radiation therapy, there are some side effects. The radiation also attacks normal cells and tissues. This means that more sensitive areas on your body, reproductive organs and hair follicles, are damaged more easily than the bones. Doctors take this into account before they suggest radiation therapy for the patient.
Some side affects of radiation on the brain:
- headaches
- swelling of the brain
- hair loss
- nausea
- vomiting
- fatigue
- hearing loss
- skin and scalp changes
- Memory loss and trouble with speech
- seizure
Now down to the nitty-gritty details. The doctor who specializes in radiation therapy is a radiation oncologist, and for a brain tumor it would be a radiation neuro-oncologist; or just a neuro-radiologist. The types of scans used are computed tomography (known at as a CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), positron emission tomography (PET), and ultrasound scans.
After the scan(s), the radiation oncologist determines the exact area for treatment and exactly how much radiation is required. Radiation doses are measured in grays (Gy), which is "a measure of the amount of radiation energy absorbed by 1 kilogram of human tissue" (www.cancer.gov).
Radiation can be considered, although very effective, very dangerous. If an area in the body has received radiation, there is a chance that radiation cannot be received in that area again. This all depends on how much radiation was received during the initial treatment.
There are many kinds of radiation therapy:
"Intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT): Uses hundreds of tiny beams for a single dose of radiation. The goal is to increase the radiation dose to the needed areas and reduce radiation exposure to specific sensitive areas of surrounding normal tissue.
Image-guided radiation therapy (IGRT): Scans are repeated to identify changes in a tumor’s size and location after treatment. This allows the position of the patient or the planned radiation dose to be adjusted during treatment as needed
Tomotherapy: Capture CT images of the patient’s tumor immediately before treatment sessions, to allow for very precise tumor targeting and sparing of normal tissue.
Stereotactic radiosurgery: Delivers one or more high doses of radiation to a small tumor.
Stereotactic body radiation therapy: Delivers radiation therapy in fewer sessions, and specifically to tumors that lie outside the brain and spinal cord.
Stereotactic radiotherapy: refers to a singe or several stereotactic radiation treatments of the brain or spine. SRS is delivered by a team involving a radiation oncologist and a neurosurgeon
[*Misha had this kind of radiation for her treatment.]
Proton therapy: The use of protons reduces the exposure of normal tissue to radiation, possibly allowing the delivery of higher doses of radiation to a tumor."
(from www.cancer.gov)
The second type of radiation therapy is internal radiation therapy. Internal radiation therapy is the kind of radiation that is placed in the affected area, either temporarily or permanently. This type of therapy delivers a high dose of radiation. Depending on the kind of cancer, the radioactive material is either placed directly into the affected area or in a sealed plastic container, which is known as an implant.
Internal radiation therapy is also called brachytherapy, or seed implantation for those non-doctor speaking people out there. These "seeds" are placed in the infected area. From there, it slowly releases radiation.
These seeds can remain in a single place for the patients life, or until they have lost their radiation (which is usually after a year).This therapy is not necessarily used to treat brain tumors. It is usually used for breast, cervical, ovarian, pelvic, head and neck, lung, perianal, and prostate cancer.
Cited:
"Radiation Therapy to the Brain." American Cancer Society. American Cancer Society, 14 Nov 2011. Web. 7 Jun 2012. <http://www.cancer.org/Treatment/TreatmentsandSideEffects/TreatmentTypes/Radiation/UnderstandingRadiationTherapyAGuideforPatientsandFamilies/understanding-radiation-therapy-radiation-to-brain>
"Stereotactic Radiation Therapy." RT Answers. ASTRO, n.d. Web. 7 Jun 2012. <http://www.rtanswers.org/treatmentinformation/treatmenttypes/stereotacticradiation.aspx>
"What is Internal Radiation Therapy?." UPMC Cancer Centers. UPMC, n.d. Web. 7 Jun 2012. <http://www.upmccancercenters.com/radonc/internal.cfm>.