1. Why use radiation?
High dose radiation is used to directly kill cancerous cells in the body. The radiation destroys cancer cells at the molecular level, and keeps them from replicating. Radiation is usually combined with chemotherapy and surgery to form a total front against cancer.
2. Where does radiation come from?
In previous years, radiation from high energy X-Rays, photons, neutrons, cobalt or other radioactive sources were concentrated on the tumor, and this radiation would kill the cancer cells and prohibit them from growing and spreading. This radiation would come from a machines and radioisotopes, but technology has developed several promising new advances.
3. What does using radiation to treat mesothelioma accomplish?
Radiation is very useful against cancer of cells that divide quickly, like mesothelioma, because it kills cells that replicate fast. When patients undergo radiation therapy, they receive several successively higher doses of radiation, which shrink the tumor to a manageable size. Radiation relieves a great deal of pain, and victims of pleural mesothelioma suffer reduced instances of shortness of breath.
Unfortunately, radiation cannot kill all of the cancerous cells without causing significant damage to the patient.
4. What kinds of mesothelioma radiation therapy are available?
There are two main types of radiation therapy: internal and external
- Internal radiation therapy (also known as brachytherapy) injects small amounts of radioactive material directly into the cancerous tissues, usually through tubes, wires, catheters, and needles. This allows higher does of concentrated radiation over a shorter time frame on more entrenched tumors.
- External radiation therapy is the standard type of radiation therapy. Over the course of a day, weeks, or months, radiation is delivered into a patient to stop the spread of cancer throughout the body.
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