What To Expect From Radiation Therapy

More than 50% of cancer patients receive some form of radiation therapy as one of the most important treatments for it. This therapy can be effective either alone or combined with other forms of cancer treatments, such as immunotherapy, chemotherapy and surgery. But before starting any treatment, a patient should pass ultrasound procedure that requires sensitive transducer and clear ultrasound gel in order to provide a proper diagnosis. 

What Is Radiation Therapy?

Also called radiotherapy, radiation therapy is a treatment for cancer that makes use of radiation at high doses to treat cancer. 

But at a lower dose, it is used in an x-ray in order to see the body’s inside – such as broken bones.

Radiation therapy is one of the most used treatments for cancer.   Its main goal is to slow down the growth of tumor and destroy the cancer cells but without harming the surrounding tissues. 

This therapy is recommended as first treatment for cancer.  But in most cases, patients will receive it after chemotherapy or surgery, often referred to as adjuvant therapy, targeting the cancer cells that survive post the initial treatment.  

The doctors may also use this treatment when it is not possible to destroy all the cancer cells. It is also used to relieve the symptoms or shrink the tumors, often called palliative radiation therapy that may reduce the symptoms of cancer, including pain and pressure.

Radiotherapy works to damage the DNA makeup of cancer cells. As a result, these cells halt division and die eventually.   And when these cells die, they’re broken down and flushed out through natural body processes. 

However, take note that it doesn’t kill the cancer cells immediately. It can take weeks before it could damage the DNA of cancer cells.

Internal beam and external beams are the two types of radiation therapy.  

The type of radiotherapy to use, however, depends on several factors, such as tumor size, cancer type, tumor location and closeness of the tumor to the normal tissues, which can be sensitive to the radiation, the patient’s overall health/medical history. 

The type of radiation therapy to use also depends on the other forms of treatments to use and the patient’s age/medical conditions. 

What’s the treatment course like?

A number of treatments are needed for radiation therapy for cancer. Usually, a low radiation dose is given daily for weeks.  But before treatment starts, the cancer care team will devise a plan including,

• The frequency as to how many treatments you have
• The number of sessions needed
• The radiotherapy type you will receive

For many patients, they will have five treatments per week, a treatment daily from Mondays to Fridays.  In some cases, a treatment may be given at least once a day, and it can include the weekends.

 A radiation therapy schedule is the number of treatments and frequency of the treatment.  In some cases, a treatment plan will only last for one day but for a couple of weeks for other patients. 

When given to relieve cancer symptoms due to advanced stages, the treatment course can be shorter, such as one to two weeks.  However, treatments can also be given with another schedule like at least once a day or every other day.

Cancer types that receive radiotherapy

• For many types of cancer, external beam radiation therapy is used. 
• For cancers of the cervix, eye, prostate, breast neck and head, brachytherapy is used.
• For certain thyroid cancer types, radioactive iodine or systemic radiation therapy is often used.
• Targeted radionuclide therapy or molecular radiotherapy, on the other hand, is for treating patients with advanced gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumor or advanced prostate cancer. 

Side Effects

While radiotherapy can help in treating many types of cancers, it can also lead to side effects, which may vary from one person to another.

The side effects may also be dependent on the cancer type, radiation dose, cancer location and the patient’s overall health. 

The common side effects of radiotherapy include:

Fatigue

For some patients, the feeling of extreme tiredness is common. They feel exhausted most of the time, but its level varies based on the treatment plan.  For one, chemotherapy used in combination with radiation therapy may lead to a higher level of fatigue. 

Skin problems

Dryness, blistering, itching and peeling are some skin side effects of radiotherapy. However, these side effects will be dependent on the body part where the therapy is given. 

But in most cases, skin problems fade away a couple of weeks following the treatment.  The doctor may also change a treatment course or plan if any serious skin problem occurs. 

Nausea and vomiting

Radiation therapy also causes vomiting and nausea.  In this case, doctors may also recommend medicines to prevent it during the day a patient will get a radiation.   

But for patients looking for alternative medicines, they opt for cannabis for pain relief especially those who also experience pain in the treatment course. It is also effective in treating chemo and radiation induced nausea and vomiting.

There are also local side effects of radiotherapy.  

It only means that a few of these side effects will be based on the location and type of therapy. For example, head and neck therapy can cause, 

• Mouth and gum sores
• Jaw stiffness
• Dry mouth 
• Tooth decay
• Hair loss
• Nausea
• Lymphedema

On the other hand, radiotherapy aimed at the patient’s chest can lead to,

• Shortness of breath
• Shoulder stiffness
• Nipple or breast soreness
• Radiation pneumonitis – fever, chest’s fullness and cough – that may happen between two weeks and six months post radiation therapy
• Difficulty swallowing

But there is one more problem: Radiation therapy can cause another cancer form.  While it can kill one cancer, it can cause another. For this reason, it matters to get a safe treatment that will help in controlling the negative effects of radiotherapy on the healthy organs.

While the risk to get another cancer is relatively low, it is not zero.  A patient should be involved in deciding the treatment for him or her.  

The cancer care team will only also recommend this treatment if they’ve determined that the benefits of getting it outweigh the risk and side effects.  But at the end of the day, it is the patient’s decision to make.

Final Thoughts

While radiation therapy is one of the most important treatments of cancer, it is not without the side effects. It is also a sharp and tough treatment that can affect other healthy organs, increasing the risks of developing another cancer after eliminating the first.

For this reason, it is important to go through the finishing stage of the cancer treatment because the therapy may exhaust the patient. 

Consider seeking help from CLHF homes that can provide inpatient care that includes medical supervision and 24-hour supportive and nursing care to patients with a life-threatening illness like cancer.