Breastcancer >> Breast Cancer Treatments >> Radiation Therapy: A Proven Therapy For Breast Cancer
Radiation Therapy: A Proven Therapy For Breast Cancer
Radiation therapy, which is also known, as radiotherapy is a breast cancer treatment, which is very effective in, destroying cancer cells which are still present in the breast, after surgery. Radiation therapy is affective in reducing the risk of breast cancer returning by 70 percent. Even though many people fear radiation therapy, it is easy to tolerate for the most part, and the side affects will only occur in the cancer site area. Unlike chemotherapy where the side affects will occur anywhere in the body.
A radiation oncologist, rather than your personal physician will handle your radiation treatments.
How radiation therapy is used?
Radiation requires the use of high-energy beams to kill cancer cells. These energy beams could be light beams or X-rays. These high energy beams while invisible to the naked eye are effective in attacking the cancer cell DNA and destroy them before they have a chance to divide and conquer, so to speak.
The cells in the breast will be damaged overtime, but unfortunately normal cells in the pathway of the energy beam will be destroyed as well. The good news is that radiation will attack more of the cancer cells than the normal healthy cells. Cancer cells are dividing and multiplying constantly and since this is their main function, it is harder for them to repair themselves after being hit by radiation. On the other hand, healthy cells have the ability to repair themselves and therefore survive radiation therapy.
Ways that radiation therapy can be administered
Radiation therapy can be administered by a linear accelerator which is a machine used to send radiation to the inside of the body from the outside of the body.
The other way of administering radiation is by pellets or seeds which when ingested will deliver the radiation beams from the inside of the body.
Radiation therapy is used in breast cancer tissue, the lymph nodes, or any other parts of the body.
Some times radiation therapy is used in combination with thermotherapy, also called, hyperthermia or thermal therapy. The process of destroying cancer cells through thermal therapy is to heat the cancer cells to very high temperatures (up to 113 degrees F). A microwave or ultrasound sound machine will be used to heat the cancer cells. Thermal therapy and radiation are given about an hour apart. There is still research going on to determine how affective thermotherapy is in killing cancer cells. The procedure is not available in every oncology center.
Many people fear radiation therapy because they connect it with atomic bombs and nuclear reactors. However, there is nothing to fear with therapeutic radiation which is pretty focused, highly effective, and safe for a breast cancer treatment.
The reason radiation therapy is so important in breast cancer treatments, is that it is able to reduce the chances that the breast cancer will come back after surgery. Even though your cancer surgeon does his or her best to remove all the cancer there are no guarantees that it is possible. It is difficult to remove every cancer cell and therefore radiation therapy is needed to finish off the job.
The cancer cells are so small they are hard to feel or see during surgery. If even one cancer cell is missed, that one cancer cell will divide and multiply and be big enough to show abnormalities on a mammogram or start the cancer growth all over again.
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The present research on breast cancer and radiation therapy is showing how women who get radiation treatment live longer than women who don’t. The chances of breast cancer returning in the same breast after a lumpectomy (removal of a lump) are 60 percent greater in women who do not have radiation therapy.