Complete Information about Radiotherapy, including Side Effects
A healthy body has body cells that work properly. If cells work abnormally, this condition can cause cancer. Well, one of the treatments that cancer patients can undergo is radiotherapy or it is also called radiation therapy. So, what is the function of this treatment and its side effects? Come on, see the following reviews.
What is radiotherapy?
Cancer can be treated in various ways, one of which is radiotherapy (radiation therapy). Therapy with high levels of radiation aims to kill cancer cells, prevent their spread, as well as reduce the size of malignant tumors.
Nearly half of patients diagnosed with cancer are advised to undergo radiation therapy, or at least 4 out of 10 cancer patients are advised to undergo radiation therapy as a treatment for their cancer.
Maybe you know radiation as one of the causes of cancer. However, the radiation used in this therapy is not large enough to trigger cancer. Human cells can recover quickly from this radiation.
Although the focus of radiotherapy is to treat cancer, radiotherapy is also used to treat non-cancerous diseases such as tumors, thyroid disease, and various other blood disorders that can also be treated with this treatment.
Advanced stage patients are also advised to do this therapy, not aimed at healing but to reduce the symptoms of cancer and the pain experienced by sufferers.
How does radiotherapy work?
In normal and healthy conditions, cells in the body will develop by dividing. In patients with cancer, cancer cells also divide, but at a very fast and abnormal pace. This is because the DNA in normal cells mutates and then becomes cancer cells, so these cells develop abnormally.
Radiotherapy works by damaging the DNA that regulates cancer cell division, so that cells can no longer grow and even die.
However, because radiotherapy is usually carried out in high doses (so that it can kill cancer cells) the normal cells around the area that are radiotherapy are sometimes also damaged. The good news is, the damage will stop as radiation therapy stops.
Unlike chemotherapy which affects all parts of the body because it uses blood flow as an intermediary, radiotherapy is a local treatment that aims to reduce the number of cancer cells without destroying the cells and tissues around the cancer cells.
However, the doctor will try to give a high dose for the part of the body that is affected by cancer and a very low dose for the part that is not affected by cancer. This therapy will work by damaging the DNA from cancer cells which then stops their growth.
There are two types of radiotherapy that can be done to cure cancer, namely:
- External radiotherapy, namely a beam of radiation given using X-rays, or various machines used outside the body.
- Internal radiotherapy, namely how to deliver radiation through the inside of the patient’s body. Substances that contain radiation will usually be injected into a vein or taken orally until the substance can reach where the cancer cells grow.
What are the side effects of radiotherapy?
The side effects that arise due to radiotherapy will vary, depending on the condition of each patient’s body. Some may only experience mild, moderate, and even severe symptoms.
In addition, the side effects that arise will also depend on the part of the body that is exposed to radiotherapy, the dose of radiation given, and various other treatments that the patient may be doing while doing radiotherapy.
There are two types of side effects that will arise after radiotherapy, namely short-term and long-term effects.
Short-term side effects where these effects will be experienced immediately by the patient, and long-term effects that will arise after some time for the patient to undergo radiotherapy, can be months or years afterwards.
Short term side effects
According to the National Health Service, the short-term side effects of radiation therapy are very diverse, they include:
- Nausea and vomiting.
- Blackened skin on the part of the body that is exposed to radiation.
- Hair loss little by little (but if you do radiotherapy to the head, neck, or face, you may lose more hair).
- Feeling tired.
- Menstrual disorders in women and disorders of the number and quality of sperm in men.
Not only that, patients who undergo radiotherapy treatment will experience decreased appetite and cause problems in the digestive system.
However, patients who are undergoing therapy must maintain their nutritional status and health through intake. Here are tips that can be done to maintain the intake of patients undergoing treatment:
- Try to eat small portions but often, at least 6 times a day but not too much food portions.
- Keep choosing healthy and clean food sources, stop smoking, or drinking alcohol.
- Always provide healthy snacks or snacks, which can withstand sudden hunger.
- Avoid spicy and sour foods to prevent mouth problems.
- Brush your teeth frequently to maintain oral health and hygiene
Long term side effects
It has been mentioned earlier that radiotherapy not only damages the DNA of cancer cells but also normal cells. When normal cells are also damaged, various side effects will appear.
- If the area affected by radiotherapy is the abdomen, the bladder is no longer elastic and makes the patient urinate more frequently.
- The breasts will be firmer and firmer after radiotherapy in the breast.
- If the pelvis is exposed to radiation, the vagina becomes narrower and less elastic.
- The arm becomes swollen when the shoulder is given therapy.
- Impaired lung function due to radiation to the chest.
- Meanwhile, patients who receive radiation to the chest or neck are at risk for narrowing of the airways and throat, making it difficult to swallow.
- For radiotherapy that is done around the pelvis, it will cause effects such as inflammation of the bladder, as well as pain in the abdomen due to urinary tract infections.
Does radiotherapy make the body radioactive?
Radiation therapy is safe to do and it really helps the medical team to remove cancer cells and speed up treatment. This therapy has been successfully used to cure cancer patients for approximately 100 years.
External radiotherapy treatment or radiation given from outside the body will not make the body radioactive or a harmful radiation source.
Meanwhile, radiation given through blood vessels or inside the body can cause danger to those around it, especially for children and pregnant women. In this case, it is better if you discuss with the oncologist what steps should be taken to reduce the effects of radiation that may harm other people.
Hello Health Group does not provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.
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How Radiation Therapy Is Used to Treat Cancer. American Cancer Society | Information and Resources about for Cancer: Breast, Colon, Lung, Prostate, Skin. https://www.cancer.org/treatment/treatments-and-side-effects/treatment-types/radiation/basics.html [Accessed on July 6th, 2021]
Radiotherapy – NHS. (2017, October 24). nhs.uk. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/Radiotherapy/Pages/Introduction.aspx [Accessed on July 6th, 2021]
Radiation therapy for cancer. (2019, January 8). National Cancer Institute. https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/treatment/types/radiation-therapy [Accessed on July 6th, 2021]
