Radiation oncology

I found that this novel was quite unique in that it laid out a detailed examination of the history of cancer and how treatments were created, along with a detailed description of the author’s personal experience during the early days of oncology. The author of Emperor of all Maladies: A Biology of Cancer, Siddhartha Mukherjee, was able to lay out all of the aspects of cancer and the battle of trying to treat, prevent, and cure it. Since the 1800s, doctors have been pushing and hoping for a…

Cancer, as defined by the American Cancer Society, “Starts when cells in a part of the body start to grow out of control.” Many people have no idea the impact of cancer on not only the patient, but the family of the patient as well. There are many emotional, physical, and financial problems that entail a cancer diagnosis for a child. Emotionally, a parent must be prepared for anything that may come up in the duration of the treatment of the child. Physically, parents of a child with cancer are…

Nutrition and Metabolism guidelines have a recommendation that promotes the use of individualize counseling and the use of high-protein dietary supplements increase food intake in gastrointestinal and head-neck cancer patients who are going through radiation therapy. This includes groups that may or may not be receiving chemotherapy as well. In a previous study looking at the acute effects of radiotherapy in patients with colorectal…

Special consideration for oncology and organ transplant patients. Oncology is a discipline in medicine that involves cancer prevention, diagnosis and treatment. An oncology patient is an individual suffering from any form of cancer and is undergoing treatment (Lanzkowsky, 2011). Organ transplant is a procedure in medicine that involves removing a body organ from the donor and being placed in the body of the recipient so as to replace a missing or damaged organ (Farber & Abrahams, 2009).…

Understanding and Caring for Radiation Burns Resulting from Cancer Treatment Let 's start by taking a look at the underlying cause of radiation burns and what they are. Radiation therapy as a form of cancer treatment involves the use of targeted high-energy radiation or any one of a number of radioactive substances. These treatments are meant to help reduce the number of cancerous cells or eliminate them completely. As this radiation passes through your skin, the area being treated can become…

(Radiological Dispersion Device, n.d.). Also, because of that, there is not one standard specific model for Radiological Dispersal Devices; each device has their own unique characteristics. Radiological Dispersal Devices do not “…release enough radiation to kill people or cause severe illness…” but “…[the] explosive itself [is] more harmful…[and all it] create[s is] fear and panic, contaminate property, and require potentially costly cleanup…” (Fact Sheet on Dirty Bombs , 2012). This is why…

Pediatric Oncology: The Meaningful Need of a Pediatric Oncologist Every year, 15,780 children between the ages birth and eighteen years receive a diagnosis of cancer. Approximately 1 in 285 children will receive a diagnosis before the age of twenty. Pediatric oncologists remain vital to the adolescent population because they provide different methods of treatment for cancers, manage advanced technology to find cancers, and help sick children feel at home with decorations of many characters in…

Age is an important factor in determining the response of brain tumors to chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery. Patients over sixty years old have a lower response rate and shorter duration of response than younger patients. Tumor cells from younger patients were sensitive to BCNU, but cells from older patients barely responded to the BCNU. Only a few studies evaluate age as a parameter of response. Older patients may have to take medicine due to chronic illnesses, and this means that there…

Intensity-Modulated Radiation Therapy One of the greatest difficulties within the field of oncology is achieving the highest probability of cure with the lowest morbidity as possible. Treatment planning and delivery technology have changed significantly since the introduction of 3D treatment planning in the 1980s (Meyer, 2011). The latest and greatest method of radiation therapy is known as intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT). Intensity-modulated radiation therapy is a newer, modern…

Treatment). Another commonly administered treatment for cancer is radiation therapy. Radiation therapy is the use of high-beamed, frequently external, radiation to kill cancer cells. Radiation therapy most often gets its power from X-rays, but power can also come from protons. Radiation therapy was originated in 1989 and began as radium with low-voltage diagnostic machines. However, at the beginning of the 20th century, it was found that radiation could also cause cancer. At this time, erythema…