What Is Cancer Radiation Therapy

Many state that cancer is perhaps a disease that has been around since the beginning of time, but it wasn’t discovered and classified until many years later. The term cancer is derived from Hippocrates, a Greek physician who wasextremely known for his medicinal studies in the 400s BC, and he was the first to record the disease describing it as a carcinoma. The studies of cancer evolved with time and so did the treatment for it, until radiation therapy was discovered in the 1800s. Cancer radiation therapy consists in releasing radiation onto the affected area, seeking to slow down the uncontrolled division and growth of cancerous cells.

How Does Cancer Radiation Therapy Work?

What cancer radiation therapy does is attack the abnormal cells that are causing the trouble, by trying to destroy their DNA. This is done through a channel of energy that is being released by the radiation machine or implant. Therefore, in order for a patient to see the results, he or she has to receive a certain amount of radiation; that’s the reason why you will see patients having perhaps five sessions a week. In addition, every cancer radiation program is tailored based on the patient’s medical history and cancer aggressiveness; the radiation itself can be done externally or internally. Moreover, the dose of the cancer radiation therapy varies from one patient to the other, based on the same reasons stated above, and also the type of cancer that the patient is suffering from.

Curing Cancer With Radiation

When a cancer or tumor is detected in its early stages, the patient has a higher probability of surviving if he or she undergoes cancer radiation therapy. There are patients who never suffer of cancer again after receiving cancer radiation treatment; however, there are many thousands that suffer a relapse (cancer reappears). A lot of times, the relapse consists of cancer affecting other parts of the body and that’s why it’s extremely criticalfor patients who had a successful radiation therapy treatment to get a periodic checkup. This will help them prevent the cancer from spreading or getting worse with time; nonetheless, it’s important to understand that there is always a chance for the cancer to return. Cancer radiation therapy still remains as a highly effective form of treatment for such adeadly disease.

Cost of Radiation Therapy

Cancer radiation therapy makes use of extremely expensive equipment, and many different doctors and nurses take part in the program. In reality, it can be quite expensive if you don’t have the proper insurance policy, but there are programs that may be able to assist you with the total costs. On the other hand, the total cost of cancer radiation therapy does vary from one country to the other, and also from state to state. There are patients that have made the decision to receive cancer radiation therapy in other countries, while the same goes for patients from around the world who choose to travel to the United States for the same.