Types Of Cancer Radiotherapy Trreatments

Those who have been ill with cancer are aware of the different types of cancer radiotherapy treatments that are available. It’s critical for every patient to become familiar with these radiotherapy treatments because in order to receive them, one must be completely aware of the side effects and possible risks.

There are three main cancer treatments, which are:

• Radiotherapy
• Chemotherapy
• Surgery

However, within the radiotherapy field, there are three other sub-treatments that can be performed. Your oncologist should discuss with you the different types of cancer radiotherapy treatments that are available at your local facility.

External Beam Radiation

Cancer radiotherapy derives from the same technique that allows us to take x-rays and see our bones. As a matter of fact, it was thanks to physicist Wilhelm Röntgen(who discovered the invisible beam) that radiation was studied in depth. Many scientist and medical researchers continued to study the radiation that emanated from numerous vacuum tubes, until Marie Curie discovered radium and polonium. This opened the path to cancer radiotherapy treatment which consists in directing radiation to the affected area, hence the tumor or cancerous cells. This is done in the external part of the body making use of a linear accelerator machine – one beam. Today, due to the many technological advances, the external beam treatment has been developed as 3-dimensional – more than one beam.

Brachytherapy: A Form of Radiotherapy

Another type of cancer radiotherapy treatment is called brachytherapy, which in contrast to the external beam places a container close or in the tumor or cancerous mass. This type of radiotherapy treatment happens to be considerably effective for the following types of cancer:

• Breast cancer
• Cervical cancer
• Skin cancer (melanoma)
• Prostate cancer

The reason why this type of cancer radiotherapy treatment is highly effective is because it attacks the cancer cells directly. Since the treatment is done locally, the patient has fewer probabilities of developing other medical difficulties, such as side effects. Breast cancer is one of the leading causes of death in the United States, but the medical field has hopes to bring this rate down, especially with the help of brachytherapy. One of the best known devices used for this type of radiotherapy treatment is called the SAVI; this machine counts with more than one catheter, and they all can be manipulated independently.

Radioisotope Therapy

One of the most recent types of cancer radiotherapy treatment is radioisotope therapy, which is simply known as RIT. This type of cancer radiotherapy treatment is quite similar to the brachytherapy because it targets the cancerous mass, rather than affecting other healthy cells or tissue. However, it makes use of isotopes which are inserted directly into the patient’s bloodstream – this can be done two main ways: through an infusion or through ingestion. This type of radiotherapy treatment is perhaps the latest in its kind, and it’s mostly used for the following cancers:

• Thyroid cancer
• Bone metastasis
• Neuroendocrine tumors

Currently, there are about 200 radioisotopes that are used in this type of radiotherapy and the majority of them are manufactured artificially.