Radiation therapy

"The treatment using ionizing radiation, generally provided as part of cancer therapy, to either kill or control the growth of malignant cells."

"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."