Radiation therapy (or radiotherapy) is the medical use of ionizing radiation as part
of cancer treatment to control malignant cells (not to be confused with radiology,
the use of radiation in medical imaging and diagnosis). Radiotherapy may
be used for curative or adjuvant cancer treatment. It is used as palliative treatment
(where cure is not possible and the aim is for local disease control or
symptomatic relief) or as therapeutic treatment (where the therapy has survival
benefit and it can be curative). Total body irradiation (TBI) is a radiotherapy
technique used to prepare the body to receive a bone marrow transplant. Radiotherapy
has several applications in non-malignant conditions, such as the treatment
of trigeminal neuralgia, severe thyroid eye disease, pterygium, pigmented
villonodular synovitis, prevention of keloid scar growth, and prevention of heterotopic
ossification. The use of radiotherapy in non-malignant conditions is
limited partly by worries about the risk of radiation-induced cancers.
Radiotherapy
is used for the treatment of malignant tumors (cancer), and may
be used as the primary therapy. It is also common to combine radiotherapy with
surgery, chemotherapy, hormone therapy or some mixture of the three. Most common
cancer types can be treated with radiotherapy in some way. The precise treatment
intent (curative, adjuvant, neoadjuvant, therapeutic, or palliative) will
depend on the tumour type, location, and stage, as well as the general health
of the patient.
Radiation therapy is commonly applied to the cancerous
tumour. The radiation fields may also include the draining lymph nodes if they
are clinically or radiologically involved with tumour, or if there is thought
to be a risk of subclinical malignant spread. It is necessary to include a margin
of normal tissue around the tumour to allow for uncertainties in daily set-up
and internal tumor motion. These uncertainties can be caused by internal movement
(for example, respiration and bladder filling) and movement of external
skin marks relative to the tumour position.
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