"The treatment using ionizing radiation, generally provided as part of cancer therapy, to either kill or control the growth of malignant cells."
The use of radiation to treat cancer and other medical conditions.
Radiation Physics: Understanding the properties and behavior of radiation, the types of radiation sources used in therapy, and the effects of radiation on living tissue.
Radiation Protection: Techniques and principles of radiation protection for patients, staff, and the general public.
Anatomy and Physiology: Basic knowledge of human anatomy and physiology, particularly relating to organs and tissues affected by radiation therapy.
Pathophysiology and Oncology: The study of disease processes and how they relate to cancer treatment.
Radiation Therapy Equipment: Understanding the various types of equipment used in radiation therapy, including linear accelerators, brachytherapy, and proton therapy.
Treatment Planning: The process of designing an individualized treatment plan for each patient based on their specific needs and circumstances.
Patient Care: Understanding the physical and emotional needs of patients undergoing radiation therapy, including pain management and quality of life considerations.
Dosimetry: The science of calculating the optimal doses of radiation for individual patients.
Image-guided Radiation Therapy: The use of imaging techniques such as CT, MRI, and PET scans to help guide radiation therapy treatment.
Clinical Trials: Understanding the importance of clinical trials in developing new radiation therapy treatments and technologies.
Radiation Oncology Ethics: Examining the ethical issues surrounding radiation therapy, including informed consent, patient confidentiality, and end-of-life care.
Radiation Therapy Management: Understanding the management and administration of radiation therapy programs, including staffing, financial considerations, and accreditation.
External beam radiation therapy: This is the most common form of radiation therapy, in which a machine directs high-energy beams at the cancerous area from outside the body.
Intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT): A more advanced form of external beam radiation, IMRT uses computer-controlled beams to deliver a high dose of radiation while minimizing damage to surrounding healthy tissues.
Image-guided radiation therapy (IGRT): This combines imaging techniques such as MRI or CT scan with radiation therapy to deliver a highly precise dose of radiation to the cancerous area.
Stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT): This delivers a high dose of radiation to small tumors or inoperable tumors using multiple beams from different angles.
Brachytherapy: This involves placing a small radioactive implant inside or near the tumor.
Proton therapy: This type of radiation therapy uses protons instead of X-rays, which allows for a more precise dose of radiation to be delivered to the cancerous area while minimizing damage to surrounding healthy tissues.
Radioembolization: This involves injecting small radioactive beads into the bloodstream, which travel to the cancerous area and deliver a high dose of radiation directly to the tumor.
Radioisotope therapy: This involves administering a radioactive substance orally or intravenously, which travels to the cancerous area and delivers radiation to the tumor.
Intraoperative radiation therapy (IORT): This delivers a high dose of radiation to the tumor during surgery, minimizing damage to surrounding healthy tissues.
Total body irradiation (TBI): This involves delivering radiation to the entire body, often used before stem cell transplant or bone marrow transplant.
"It is normally delivered by a linear particle accelerator."
"Radiation therapy may be curative in a number of types of cancer if they are localized to one area of the body and have not spread to other parts."
"It may also be used as part of adjuvant therapy, to prevent tumor recurrence after surgery to remove a primary malignant tumor."
"Ionizing radiation works by damaging the DNA of cancerous tissue leading to cellular death."
"To spare normal tissues... shaped radiation beams are aimed from several angles of exposure to intersect at the tumor, providing a much larger absorbed dose there than in the surrounding healthy tissue."
"The radiation fields may also include the draining lymph nodes if they are clinically or radiologically involved with the tumor, or if there is thought to be a risk of subclinical malignant spread."
"These uncertainties can be caused by internal movement (for example, respiration, and bladder filling) and movement of external skin marks relative to the tumor position."
"Radiation oncology is the medical specialty concerned with prescribing radiation, and is distinct from radiology, the use of radiation in medical imaging and diagnosis."
"It is also common to combine radiation therapy with surgery, chemotherapy, hormone therapy, immunotherapy or some mixture of the four."
"The precise treatment intent (curative, adjuvant, neoadjuvant therapeutic, or palliative) will depend on the tumor type, location, and stage, as well as the general health of the patient."
"Total body irradiation (TBI) is a radiation therapy technique used to prepare the body to receive a bone marrow transplant."
"Brachytherapy, in which a radioactive source is placed inside or next to the area requiring treatment, is another form of radiation therapy that minimizes exposure to healthy tissue during procedures to treat cancers of the breast, prostate, and other organs."
"Radiation therapy has several applications in non-malignant conditions."
"The treatment of trigeminal neuralgia, acoustic neuromas, severe thyroid eye disease, pterygium, pigmented villonodular synovitis, and prevention of keloid scar growth, vascular restenosis, and heterotopic ossification."
"The use of radiation therapy in non-malignant conditions is limited partly by worries about the risk of radiation-induced cancers."
"The subspecialty of oncology concerned with radiotherapy is called radiation oncology."
"A physician who practices in this subspecialty is a radiation oncologist."
"Radiation therapy is synergistic with chemotherapy, and has been used before, during, and after chemotherapy in susceptible cancers."
"Most common cancer types can be treated with radiation therapy in some way."