radiotherapy

The radiotherapy, Radiation treatment, Radiotherapy, Radiation oncology or colloquially also the Irradiation uses different rays to treat diseases; these include, for example, X-rays or electron beams. The mechanism of action is that the influence of radiation therapy destroys the DNA (which contains the genetic information) of diseased cells - such as tumor cells. A cell damaged in this way cannot multiply any further or even dies. Tumor cells are more sensitive to radiation therapy than healthy cells and are less able to repair themselves - therefore it is able to destroy tumor cells while damaging as few healthy cells as possible. To achieve this, the dose and duration of radiation therapy are determined individually.

application

The radiotherapy is used in the treatment of both benign and malignant cancers. The majority of the cases treated are malignant diseases. Depending on the location and nature of a tumor, radiation therapy is carried out in different ways; for example, the rays can strike the patient from a slightly distant device or they can emerge from materials that are attached to a patient's body or in body orifices.

In some cases, radiation therapy is carried out in combination with surgical interventions. Radiation therapy can take place before an operation, during a surgical procedure, or it can be used as a follow-up treatment. Radiation during an operation can be useful, for example, if radiation has to be used that the skin cannot tolerate. The dosage of radiation therapy depends on the disease present:

If, for example, there is a rapidly growing throat cancer, it can make sense to line up several radiation units on one day; the effectiveness of radiation therapy increases significantly as a result, but it can also lead to increased side effects. In addition to the temporal frequency of the radiation therapy, the different rays also have different dose units:

While some rays are used that penetrate very deeply into the tissue, radiation therapy also uses rays that develop their effect closer to the skin. The latter is useful if, for example, tumors are to be reached in tissue that are located in front of organs that are not supposed to be affected by the radiation (as is the case with the heart). An example of this is radiation therapy for breast cancer. To protect the skin, rays that act on the patient from a short distance only develop their effect after they have penetrated the skin.

Side effects & dangers

Radiation doses in the course of a radiotherapy are administered, are adapted to the clinical picture of a patient as low as possible. However, depending on the radiation dose associated with radiation therapy, the therapy still involves health risks. It makes no difference whether a single high dose or several small doses act on the body.

In the case of slight radiation damage from radiation doses of a certain level, one speaks of a so-called radiation hangover: It can make itself felt through headache, nausea or [[vomiting] 6. After whole-body applications of radiation therapy above a certain limit value, a so-called radiation syndrome can develop: Such a syndrome due to radiation therapy can manifest itself through diarrhea, bleeding or the loss of body hair.

Possible long-term effects of radiation therapy of a certain dose can occur weeks to years after the therapy. Such consequences include, for example, delayed growth in children, the degeneration of tissue or an influence on the genetic make-up.