How Radiation Therapy Works

Radiation therapy is a very common treatment for those with cancer.  In fact, 50 to 60 percent of those being treated for cancer have had radiation treatment at some time.  Sometimes it's used alone, often for prostate or larynx cancer, and other times it's used as part of a patient’s treatment, commonly given to women suffering from breast cancer after breast conservation surgery.  

How does radiation therapy work?  It uses a type of energy called ionizing radiation to shrink tumors and kill cancer cells.  It kills the cancer cells by reacting with the water in all of your cells.  This reaction damages the material that controls cell growth.  Cancer cells are not able to repair themselves quick enough, so they end up dieing.  Your normal cells are also harmed, but they are able to quickly repair themselves before they die.  Since the therapy does damage your body, doctors pay very close attention to how much radiation is given.  

Radiation therapy is commonly given 4 to 5 times a week, up to 5 to 7 weeks.  The days off are given so that your normal cells are able to heal.  Even though the radiation may only take a few minutes, you are often in the treatment room for up to thirty minutes.  The majority of the time is spent positioning your body.  This is to maximize the amount of radiation hitting the cancerous cells, and to minimize the amount hitting normal cells.

While no treatment will guarantee cancer recovery, many types of cancer have above eighty percent success rate with radiation therapy.  Many intelligent scientists spend ample time studying new ways and alternative methods to perform radiation therapy in order to make it as safe to the body as possible.