- Also called:
- radiation oncology, radiotherapy, or therapeutic radiology
- Key People:
- John Joly
radiation therapy
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What is radiation therapy?
Radiation therapy uses ionizing radiation, such as X-rays, gamma rays, or subatomic particles, to destroy cancer cells by preventing their replication or inducing programmed cell death.
Because cancer cells proliferate continuously, they are more susceptible to radiation than healthy cells. Radiation oncologists may also use ionizing radiation to treat benign tumors that cannot be removed surgically.
Two techniques for radiation therapy include:
* Brachytherapy In this internal radiation therapy, the radiation source is placed directly into the tumor or a nearby body cavity.
* Teletherapy Also known as external radiation therapy, this approach uses a device like a clinical linear accelerator to deliver radiation from a distance.3 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
Why is radiation therapy used in medicine?
Radiation therapy utilizes ionizing radiation, such as X-rays, gamma rays, or subatomic particles, to destroy cancer cells by damaging their DNA or inducing apoptosis. It is employed in approximately 50 percent of cancer diagnoses.
Cells are destroyed either because they sustain so much genetic damage that they cannot replicate or because the radiation induces apoptosis (programmed cell death). Cancer cells are more sensitive to radiation than are healthy cells because they are continuously proliferating.
In addition to treating cancer, radiation oncologists may use ionizing radiation to treat benign tumours that are unresectable (unable to be removed by surgery), such as certain types of tumours occurring in the brain. Radiation therapy can also be palliative if a cure is not possible; the size of the tumour can be reduced, thereby relieving pain or pressure on adjacent vital structures.
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How does radiation therapy help treat cancer?
Radiation therapy uses ionizing radiation, such as X-rays and gamma rays, to destroy cancer cells. The radiation either damages the cancer cells' genetic material, preventing replication, or induces programmed cell death. Because cancer cells proliferate continuously, they are more susceptible to radiation than healthy cells.
There are two main techniques for delivering radiation therapy:
* Brachytherapy In this internal approach, radioactive isotopes are placed directly into the tumor or a nearby body cavity.
* Teletherapy This external approach uses a machine, such as a linear accelerator, to deliver radiation from a distance.Radiation therapy can be used alone or in combination with surgery and chemotherapy. It is often used to treat tumors that cannot be surgically removed or to eradicate undetected disease at the tumor's periphery.
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What are the main types of radiation therapy?
Radiation therapy uses ionizing radiation to destroy cancer cells by preventing replication or inducing cell death. It is a common cancer treatment, used in approximately 50% of cases.
The two main techniques to deliver radiation therapy are:
* Brachytherapy: Involves placing a radiation source, such as radioactive isotopes of gold, cesium, iridium or iodine, directly into the tumor or nearby body cavity. This allows a high dose of radiation to be delivered to the tumor while sparing surrounding healthy tissue.
* Teletherapy: Also known as external radiation therapy, uses a device like a clinical linear accelerator to deliver radiation from a distance. Two common approaches to teletherapy are intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) and particle beam therapy.3 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
How do doctors make sure radiation targets only the unhealthy cells?
To ensure radiation targets only unhealthy cells, doctors use several techniques in radiation therapy:
- Conformal radiation therapy utilizes multiple beams shaped to fit the tumor, minimizing radiation exposure to healthy tissues.
- Intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT), a specialized form of conformal therapy, employs numerous small fields with collimators to deliver high-dose irradiation to the tumor while sparing surrounding tissues.
- Brachytherapy involves placing radioactive sources directly into the tumor or nearby tissue, delivering a high dose of radiation to the tumor while sparing the surrounding healthy tissue.
- Image-guided scans help to precisely shape the field of irradiation, maximizing the therapeutic effect and minimizing damage to healthy tissues.
- Stereotactic surgery is used to focus high-intensity radiation on localized areas to shrink tumors.
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What are some possible side effects of radiation therapy?
Radiation therapy, a localized cancer treatment, can cause both temporary (acute) and long-lasting (chronic) side effects, generally limited to directly exposed tissues.
Examples of short-term side effects include skin reactions, inflammation of the mucosa (mucositis), and lowered blood-cell counts. The development of long-term side effects depends on the exposed tissues, patient age, and radiation dose. Long-term effects are usually permanent and can include hormone deficiencies, learning difficulties, and secondary malignancies such as thyroid, breast, or lung cancer. Modern radiation therapy techniques like intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) aim to minimize damage to surrounding tissues.
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News •
radiation therapy, the use of ionizing radiation (high-energy radiation that displaces electrons from atoms and molecules) to destroy cancer cells.
Early developments in radiation therapy
Radiation has been present throughout the evolution of life on Earth. However, with the discovery of X-rays in 1895 by German physicist Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen, and with the discovery of radioactivity by French physicist Henri Becquerel, the biological effects of radiation were recognized. In the early 20th century, ionizing radiation came into use to treat malignant (cancerous) and benign conditions. In 1922 at the Congress of Oncology in Paris, French radiation oncologist Henri Coutard presented the first evidence of the use of fractionated radiotherapy (radiation doses divided over the course of multiple treatments) to cure advanced cancer of the larynx (voice box) without significant deleterious side effects.
Ionizing radiation
Ionizing radiation is so named because its reaction with neutral atoms or molecules causes those atoms or groups of atoms to become ions, or electrically charged entities. Ionizing radiation includes both electromagnetic waves and particle radiation. Electromagnetic waves are the broad spectrum of waves that includes radio waves, microwaves, visible light, X-rays, and gamma rays. Particle radiation includes beams of subatomic particles, such as protons, alpha particles, beta particles, neutrons, and positrons, as well as heavier particles, such as carbon ions.
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The forms of ionizing radiation relevant to the treatment of cancer are X-rays, gamma rays, and particulate radiation beams. Those forms of radiation are either directly ionizing or indirectly ionizing. Directly ionizing radiation (e.g., a beam of protons, alpha particles, or beta particles) causes direct disruption of the atomic or molecular structure of the tissue through which it passes. In contrast, indirectly ionizing radiation (e.g., electromagnetic waves and neutron beams) gives up energy as it passes through tissues, which results in the production of fast-moving particles that in turn cause damage to tissues. Included among the biochemical and molecular effects of ionizing radiation is the ability to cause breaks in the double-stranded DNA molecule in the cell nucleus. That causes the cancer cells to die and thus prevents their replication, thereby slowing the progression, or even causing the regression, of malignant disease.
Types of radiation therapy
In addition to treating cancer, radiation oncologists may use ionizing radiation to treat benign tumours that are unresectable (unable to be removed by surgery), such as certain types of tumours occurring in the brain (e.g., craniopharyngiomas and acoustic neuromas). Until the significant long-term consequences of ionizing radiation were recognized, radiation therapy was sometimes used for conditions such as acne, tinea capitis (ringworm of the scalp and nails), and lymph node enlargement, but those uses were abandoned following the discovery of ionizing radiation injury.
Early radiation therapy machines produced X-rays that were in the orthovoltage range (between about 140 and 400 kilovolts). That treatment caused serious and often intolerable skin burns. Modern radiation therapy machines produce beams that are in the high-energy megavoltage range (more than 1,000 kilovolts), which allows the beam to penetrate tissues and treat deep-seated tumours. The dose to the skin, however, is lower than with orthovoltage treatment.
The majority of modern radiation therapy treatments are external beam teletherapy, or long-distance therapy (sometimes also called external beam radiotherapy). External beam machines produce ionizing radiation either by radioactive decay of a nuclide, most commonly cobalt-60, or through the acceleration of electrons or other charged particles, such as protons. Most radiation therapy treatments use irradiation generated by linear accelerators, which impart a series of relatively small increases in energy to particles such as protons, carbon ions, or neutrons. The accelerated particles bombard a target, which then produces the therapeutic beam of radiation. The energy of the beam is determined by the energy of the accelerated particles. Two commonly used approaches to external beam teletherapy are intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) and particle beam therapy.
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Intensity-modulated radiation therapy
In what is known as conformal radiation therapy, radiation treatment uses multiple beams that conform to the tumour shape, thereby exposing relatively small areas of normal tissue to ionizing radiation. IMRT is a highly specialized form of conformal therapy. The technology makes use of an even greater number of small fields with tiny leaves, or collimators, which can block parts of the treatment field. The result is that high-dose irradiation can be delivered to the tumour while sparing the surrounding tissues. The precise position of the tumour may move during a treatment session or between treatment sessions if the targeted internal organs shift during breathing or digestion. Because IMRT requires highly accurate delineation of the tumour and the normal organs and structures, immobilization of the patient is critical. Image guidance can be employed to follow organ and tumour motion during treatment.
Particle beam therapy
Charged particle beams (e.g., proton beams) are also ionizing radiation that is used in cancer treatment. The depth of penetration of the particles into the body is determined by the energy of the incoming particle beam. Protons and relatively heavy ion beams (such as carbon ions) deposit more energy as they go deeper into the body, increasing to a sharp maximum at the end of their range, where residual energy is lost over a very short distance. That results in a steep rise in the absorbed dose, known as the Bragg peak. Beyond the Bragg peak there is a rapid falloff of the dose to zero.
Although the Bragg peak generally is very narrow, it can be spread out to cover a longer distance. The distribution of the radiation dose delivered in a proton beam in the body is characterized by a lower dose in the normal tissue proximal to the tumour, a high and uniform dose region at the tumour site, and zero dose beyond the tumour—in contrast to photon radiation, where the ionizing radiation energy passes through the normal tissue beyond the tumour.
The absence of an exit dose of protons makes proton beam therapy preferable for many situations in which a tumour is adjacent to a critical structure, such as the spinal cord, which cannot tolerate high doses of ionizing radiation, or in the treatment of children, in whom avoiding normal tissues significantly decreases the long-term side effects of radiation therapy. Other particle beams, such as carbon ion beams, show similar physical advantages to protons in that they may be more effective against certain slow-growing tumours.
Brachytherapy
Another technique used for the delivery of radiation is known as brachytherapy. In that form of therapy, radiation is implanted directly into a tumour or tumour-bearing tissue. The encapsulated radioactive sources are inserted into the tumour via catheters or needles. A catheter can be placed into a tumour bed after tumour resection, whereas a needle can be inserted into the affected tissue directly or into the body cavity housing the affected tissue. In both cases, radioactive sources are carefully threaded into the delivery device. Brachytherapy is valuable in particular because it can deliver a high dose of radiation to the tumour tissue or tumour bed while sparing the surrounding healthy tissue.