Radiation therapy is regarded as a highly effective treatment for cancer which has been prevailing since quite a while. I was stunned to know the importance of this therapy after one of my cousin’s had to undergo this procedure. Most of us might not know, but radiotherapy has a wide-range of applications which are mainly concerned with cancer patients.
It has been analyzed that, radiotherapy has turned out to be a cure in many patients or helps in relieving symptoms caused due to advanced cancers. The radiotherapy devices market has been blessed with technology and innovations, which has led to the introduction of ‘better’ equipment to offer satisfactory results. Currently, radiation therapy supports 40% of all cancer treatments on the global scenario, together with relieving symptoms, like pain.
Benefits of Radiotherapy
- For a variety of common cancers, for example, breast cancer, prostate cancer and bowel cancer, radiation therapy has been rated effective for decreasing the risk of cancer repetition post-surgery. Further, it can function to cure the cancer in case there is recurrence in the vicinity after a surgery for prostate cancer.
- In several cancers (head and neck, prostate, bladder, skin, cervix and lung cancers), the implementation of radiation therapy, with the presence or absence of drug therapy, is used as the chief curative treatment; this is preferred since it reduces the chance of organ removal.
Downfall of Radiotherapy
- There are many patients who experience fatigue that stays throughout the entire treatment period.
- Also, based on the treated region, there are several different side effects such as skin soreness and redness, bladder symptoms, bowel upset, sore mouth and nausea. There are medications and other measures to get rid of these side effects.
It is vital to remember that, most of these side effects do vanish completely under a few weeks after the completion of the radiation therapy. In exceptional cases, patients do experience intense or long-term downfalls.
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