Radiation and chemotherapy are two of the three most commonly used treatment options in an oncologist's arsenal; the other is surgery. You may receive one, two, or all three treatments. The goal of treatment is to kill or damage cancer cells. Treatment is individualized: two patients with similar cancers might receive different treatments.
Here's a brief overview of radiation and chemotherapy.
Chemotherapy uses drugs to destroy cancer cells by stopping or slowing their growth. Your physician may use chemotherapy to shrink a tumor before removing it with surgery, or to destroy remaining cells after surgery or radiation.
Radiation therapy uses high-energy rays to kill cancer cells by damaging their DNA. You might receive radiation before, during, or after surgery. When cancer is incurable, radiation controls the growth of cancer cells and helps relieve pain and symptoms (palliative care).
Chemotherapy
There are many types of chemotherapy drugs. Before any drug becomes part of the standard of care for cancer, scientists have studied it extensively. Oncologists know how each drug works and when it's the best option.
Your body absorbs chemotherapy drugs in several ways, which helps your physician determine how he will administer it. You may receive injections intramuscularly (into the muscle), inter-arterially (into the artery feeding the tumor), or intravenously (into a vein). With topical chemotherapy, you rub the drug into your skin. Your physician may also prescribe oral chemotherapy.
Radiation therapy
When you receive radiation treatment, your radiologist uses X-rays, gamma rays, or charged particles to kill cancer cells. She'll view your tumor on imaging scans so she knows exactly where the tumor is located can can precisely target the radiation while minimizing damage to nearby healthy tissue.
There are three primary ways you might receive radiation.
- External beam radiation therapy delivers radiation from a machine outside the body. Intensity-modulated, image-guided, tomotherapy, stereotactic radiosurgery, proton therapy, or charged particle beams are all types of external beam radiation therapy.
- Internal radiation (brachytherapy) delivers radiation from sources placed inside or on the body.
- Systemic radiation therapy requires patients to swallow a radioactive substance (or your physician may inject it into your body).
Chemotherapy and radiation therapy both have risks and usually cause some side effects.
Sources:
National Cancer Institute. "Chemotherapy and You: Support for people with cancer." Web. 29 June 2007.
http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/coping/chemotherapy-and-you/page2
National Cancer Institute. "Radiation Therapy for Cancer." Web. 30 June 2010.
http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Therapy/radiation
Chemocare.com. Web.
http://www.chemocare.com/whatis/
