How Does Radiation Therapy Work On Cancer Cells

Radiation therapy most often uses x rays but protons or other types of energy also can be used.

How does radiation therapy work on cancer cells. Radiation doesn t always kill cancer cells or normal cells. Radiation that is used for cancer treatment is usually a form of high energy x ray. For some types of cancer radiation and chemotherapy or other types of anti cancer drugs might be used together. A cancer diagnosis may mean radiation therapy.

Radiation is essentially an invisible high energy beam. Learn the types of therapy cancers each treats and side effects. It shrinks tumors and kills cancer cells. The basics of radiation therapy.

Radiation therapy is a type of cancer treatment that uses beams of intense energy to kill cancer cells. Certain drugs called radiosensitizers help radiation work better by making cancer cells more sensitive to radiation. The term radiation therapy most often refers to external beam radiation therapy. Other less common forms of radiation use particles such as protons to kill cancer cells.

The damage to normal cells causes unwanted side effects. The timing of when radiation therapy is given depends on the type of cancer being treated and whether the goal of radiation therapy is to treat the cancer or ease symptoms. Radiation therapy is always a balance between destroying the cancer cells and minimizing damage to the normal cells.