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| Treatment Questions
What is radiation oncology?
Radiation oncology is the practice of using radiation to treat cancer. The practice is over 100 years old. Since that time, radiation oncology has seen many advances (the MegaVoltage machines, the use of CAT-scan based treatments, IMRT).
Cancer cells are cells that have one goal: to keep dividing. They do not listen to normal feedback mechanisms that tell them to stop dividing. Even though all cancers love to keep multiplying, they are not all the same. Different ones respond differently to radiation treatments. Because of this, different cancers are treated with different radiation doses and different treatment schemes.
Radiation oncologist use radiation (X-rays) to kill cancer cells. The X-rays are similar to the X-rays used for getting a chest X-ray or for getting a X-ray for a broken bone, but have much more energy. Although radiation can damage normal cells, normal cells usually recover faster and more fully than cancer cells. This difference in recovery from damage allows the radiation oncologist to use daily treatment to preferentially kill cancer cells.
There are two forms of radiation therapy:
- External Beam Radiation Therapy (EBRT): Also called teletherapy (long distance therapy). This is the form of radiation most patients receive and the one shown in the movie below. In this particular case, you are brought into the treatment room by the radiation therapist. Then, the therapist will lay you on a treatment bed. The machine will be turned on and radiation will pass through your body. The treatment last about 10minutes and then the machine is turned off. Treatment itself is painless. Patients do not see or feel anything during treatment. You will not be radioactive and it is safe for you to interact with others. You will not expose others to radiation. There are different forms of EBRT, including 3-D conformal, Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy, and Stereotactic RadioSurgery.
- Brachytherapy: Unlike teletherapy where the radiation source is far away and transiently passes through your entire body, brachytherapy has the radioactive source near or within the tumor. During your brachytherapy you will be radioactive and will need to take special precautions.
Radiation therapy is usually directed at one particular part of the body (i.e., the lung). Even within that particular body part (i.e., the lung), the radiation beam is targeting a small region (i.e., the left upper lung). Determining where to aim the beam and how to position your body for daily treatments happens during the simulation.
The following movie explains more about radiation therapy: (http://www.varian.com/pinf/animation/player.html)
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