Radiation therapy

Intraoperative radiation therapy (IORT) is one of the specific procedure of radiation therapy that deliver a very high dose (9-25 Gy) to the tumor bed during the surgical procedure. In IORT irradiation before surgery to shrink the tumor volume and exposure to tumor bed after surgery to ensure the destruction of microscopic tumor cells. The use of IORT has increased because single high doses of radiation therapy can be delivered to a tumor volume in appropriate clinical situations without…

Radiotherapy Radiation has many beneficial ways to be used. The type that will be discussed in this report is its medical uses in treating cancer. The treatment is called radiation therapy or radiotherapy (National Cancer Institute 2010). More than half of all cancer patients get radiotherapy as part of their treatment (American Cancer Society 2014). It is often used alongside chemotherapy (D Hermann n.d.). The purpose of radiation therapy is to cure or control the cancer or to relieve symptoms…

Abstract: Adaptive radiation therapy is a closed-loop radiation treatment process where the treatment plan can be modified using a systematic feedback of measurements. Adaptive radiation therapy intends to improve radiation treatment by systematically monitoring treatment variations and incorporating them to re-optimize the treatment plan early on during the course of treatment. In this process, field margin and treatment dose can be routinely customized to each individual patient to achieve a…

I had been a Radiation therapist for seventeen years when my dad was diagnosed with lung cancer. I knew all too well what the next year or so would be like. His lung cancer had spread to his mediastinal lymph nodes, designating his disease as stage three of four. He did not have a favorable prognosis. I knew we would treat him aggressively in hope of a cure, but the reality was that the numbers were against him and he would eventually succumb to his disease. Both of my parents had smoked…

Radiation therapy is used in the treatment of approximately 40% to 60% of patients who are diagnosed as having cancer.1,2 Radiation therapy uses ionizing radiation delivered by external beam therapy or radioisotopes with either a palliative or curative goal.1 These complex treatments are usually delivered daily during a period of five to seven weeks.1,2 Radiation therapy is recognized as a high-risk procedure because of the number of steps and staff involved.3 The radiation oncologist, medical…

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 can be classified as radiation therapy. The radiation that specific isotopes give off are utilized for effecting cancer cells. First of all, what is radiation? Radiation is energy that is carried by waves of streams of particles. The energy from radiation damages the genes (DNA) in the cancer cells. The damage done to the cells prevent them from growing and dividing, and often cause them to die off. Nearby normal and healthy cells can also be affected by the radiation. However most…

I n 1898, the radioactive elements Radium and Polonium were found by Marie and Pierre Curie. Thus the concept of treating cancers was born. The Curie’s work on radiation led to the possibility of cancer treatment, but also provided a better understanding of the atom. That is that an atom has a nucleus at its centre with surrounding energy shells which consist of negatively charged electrons. The electron was discovered in 1897 by J.J. Tomson, and was the first proved element of the atom. The…

Ever since my dad was diagnosed with cancer, and I witnessed all that radiation therapists do to help cancer patients I have known that I wanted to be a radiation therapist. That was when I was a junior in high school and my desire to be a radiation therapist hasn’t changed since then. I took lifespan development because it was one of the recommended classes for the radiation therapy program. I had no idea what to expect from this class because I never took a psychology class before, but I am…

LITT (Laser interstitial thermal therapy) is a stereotactic-guided minimally invasive ablating technique that involves generating high temperatures thus leading to tissue coagulation, necrosis, and cellular apoptosis (1-3). LITT was initially described by Brown et al in 1983, for the treatment of tumors (5). Later, Sugiyama et al described the utility of this modality in the management of deep-seated brain tumors (6). The concept of using heat energy to treat tumors has evolved to a precise and…