+1-617-394-8820 contact@baybiosciences.com

Radiation Therapy Overview

Radiation therapy which is also known as radiotherapy, is a type of cancer treatment that uses high doses of radiation through beams of intense energy waves to kill cancer cells and shrink tumors.

High-energy radiation is used to damage cancer cells DNA and destroy their ability to divide and grow.

Radiation therapy may be delivered using machines called linear accelerators or via radioactive sources placed inside the patient on a temporary or permanent basis. This may be used to cure cancer, to relieve a cancer patient’s pain or alleviate other symptoms.

The two main types of radiation therapy for treating cancer are external beam radiation and internal radiation therapy. Radiation therapy most often uses X-rays, but protons or other types of energy also can be used.

Radiation therapy treats cancer by using high-energy waves to kill tumor cells. The goal is to destroy or damage the cancer without hurting too many healthy cells.

According to the American Cancer Society (ACS), over 50% of the cancer patients receive radiation therapy as part of their cancer treatment. Doctors use radiation therapy to treat just about every type of cancer. Radiation therapy is also useful in treating some noncancerous or benign tumors.

The type of radiation therapy recommended by a doctor usually depends on the type of cancer a patient, the size and location of the tumor, and the patient’s overall  health condition.

Preparation for radiation therapy is focused on targeting the radiation dose to the cancer as precisely as possible to minimize side effects and avoid damaging normal cells. Imaging tests may be used to help determine the exact shape and location of your tumor and define its boundaries.

This treatment can cause side effects, but they’re different for every patient. These side effects depend on the type of radiation you get, how much you get, the part of your body that gets treatment, and how healthy you are overall.

Radiation therapy damages cells by destroying the genetic material that controls how cells grow and divide.

While both healthy and cancerous cells are damaged by radiation therapy, the goal of radiation therapy is to destroy as few normal, healthy cells as possible. Normal cells can often repair much of the damage caused by radiation.

Radiation damages genetic material called DNA inside of cancer cells. If the cancer cell cannot repair the DNA, the cell will not be able to produce new cells and may die.

A cancer patient’s doctors and the treatment team will carefully plan radiation therapy to minimize damage to the normal tissues and the organs.

Types of Radiation Therapy

Following are the two main types of radiation therapy commonly used for the treatments cancers:

External Beam Radiation Therapy (Teletherapy)

External beam radiation therapy, also known ad teletherapy is the most common type of radiation treatment for cancer. In this type of radiation therapy the energy beams come from a machine outside of the body. A healthcare professional precisely aims the beams, which penetrate the body to reach the cancer location.

Internal Radiation Therapy

The second main type of radiation treatment is internal radiation therapy, also known as brachytherapy.

During this treatment, a doctor places an implant containing radiation in or near the cancer site. These implants come in different shapes, including the following:

  • Capsule
  • Pellets
  • Seeds
  • Tube
  • Wire

Systemic Radiation Therapy

Systemic radiation therapy is another kind of internal radiation therapy. It requires a patient to swallow a radioactive substance, which travels throughout the body to find and kill the cancerous cells. Alternatively, a healthcare professional may inject the radioactive substance into a patient’s vein.

Radiation Therapy to Cure Cancer

A radiation oncologist may use external beam radiation therapy or brachytherapy to treat cancer. External beam radiation therapy can be generated by a linear accelerator, which is a machine that accelerates electrons to produce x-rays or gamma rays. 

Proton therapy is another form of external beam radiation therapy that uses cyclotrons or synchrotrons to produce charged atoms that destroy tumors. Radiation therapy given by radioactive sources that are put inside the patient is called brachytherapy.

The radioactive sources are sealed in needles, seeds, wires, or catheters, and implanted directly into or near a tumor on a temporary or permanent basis. Brachytherapy is a common treatment for prostate cancer, breast cancer, cervical cancer and uterine cancer.

Some cancer patients may be treated with radiation as their primary treatment. In some cases, radiation therapy is given at the same time as chemotherapy. Chemotherapy used in combination with radiation therapy can improve the local response and reduce metastatic disease.

In other cases, radiation therapy is given before (neoadjuvant treatment) or after (adjuvant treatment) surgery.

How Radiation Therapy Works

External beam radiation and brachytherapy work similarly. Both are local therapies that work on one part of the body, directing high energy beams at cancer cells to destroy them. However, the two therapies differ in the source of the radiation.

In brachytherapy, the radiation comes from an implant that a doctor places near or in a tumor. In external beam radiation, the radiation comes from a machine outside of the body.

Reasons for Radiation Therapy

Doctors may suggest radiation therapy as an option at different times during your cancer treatment and for different reasons, including the following:

  • As the only, primary treatment for cancer
  • Before surgery, to shrink a cancerous tumor (neoadjuvant therapy)
  • After surgery, to stop the growth of any remaining cancer cells (adjuvant therapy)
  • In combination with other treatments, such as chemotherapy, to destroy cancer cells
  • In advanced cancer to alleviate symptoms caused by the cancer

Preparation of Radiation Therapy

Before a patient undergo external beam radiation therapy, the health care team guides you through a planning process to ensure that radiation reaches the precise spot in your body where it’s needed.

Planning typically includes the following:

  • Radiation Simulation: During simulation, the radiation therapy team works with you to find a comfortable position for you during treatment. It’s imperative that you lie still during treatment, so finding a comfortable position is vital.To do this, you’ll lie on the same type of table that’s used during radiation therapy.Your radiation therapy team will mark the area of your body that will receive the radiation. Depending on your situation, you may receive temporary marking with a marker or you may receive small permanent tattoos.
  • Planning scans. Your radiation therapy team will have you undergo computerized tomography (CT) scans to determine the area of your body to be treated.

After the planning process, your radiation therapy team decides what type of radiation and what dose you’ll receive based on your type and stage of cancer, your general health, and the goals for your treatment.

The precise dose and focus of radiation beams used in your treatment is carefully planned to maximize the radiation to your cancer cells and minimize the harm to surrounding healthy tissue.

Side Effects and Risks of Radiation Therapy

American Cancer Society (ACS) website states that the most common side effects from radiation therapy are the following:

  • Fatigue
  • Loss of appetite
  • Skin irritation in the treated area
There are two kinds of side effects from radiation therapy, early side effects and late side effects. 
Early side effects, such as nausea and fatigue, usually does not last for a long time. They usually start during or right after the radiation treatment and last for several weeks after it ends, but then they start to get better. 
Late side effects, such as lung or heart problems, may take years to show up and are often permanent and irreversible when they do. 
The most common early side effects are fatigue and skin problems. Patients may get other side effects, such as hair loss and nausea depending on which part of the body gets radiation therapy. 
Radiation therapy also affects skin cells. Skin changes can include:

  • Blistering
  • Dryness
  • Itching
  • Peeling

Other side effects of radiation depend on the area being treated, and can include:

  • Diarrhea
  • Dry Mouth
  • Ear ached
  • Mouth sores
  • Nausea
  • Problems with swallowing
  • Painful urination or urgency to urinate
  • Swelling
  • Sore throat
  • Sexual dysfunction
  • Vomiting

Follow up after Radiation Therapy

During the weeks of treatment, your doctor will closely monitor your treatment schedule and dosing, and your general health.

A patient will undergo several imaging scans and tests during radiation so the doctors can observe how well the patients is responding to the radiation therapy treatment. These scans and tests can also tell them if any changes need to be made to the treatment.

Bay Biosciences is a global leader in providing researchers with high quality, clinical grade, fully characterized human tissue samples, bio-specimens and human bio-fluid collections. 

Samples available are cancer (tumor) tissue, cancer serum, cancer plasma cancer PBMC and human tissue samples from most other therapeutic areas and diseases.

Bay Biosciences maintains and manages its own bio-repository, human tissue bank (biobank) consisting of thousands of diseased samples (specimens) and from normal healthy donors available in all formats and types.

Our biobank procures and stores fully consented, deidentified and institutional review boards (IRB) approved human tissue samples and matched controls.

All our human tissue collections, human specimens and human bio-fluids are provided with detailed samples associated patient’s clinical data.

This critical patient’s clinical data includes information relating to their past and current disease, treatment history, lifestyle choices, biomarkers and genetic information.

Patient’s data is extremely valuable for researchers and is used to help identify new effective treatments (drug discovery & development) in oncology, other therapeutic areas and diseases. 

Bay Biosciences banks wide variety of human tissue samples and biological samples including cryogenically preserved at – 80°C.

Including fresh frozen tissue samplestumor tissue samples, FFPE’s, tissue slides, with matching human bio-fluids, whole blood and blood derived products such as serumplasma and PBMC’s.

Bay Biosciences is a global leader in collecting and providing human tissue samples according to the researchers specified requirements and customized, tailor-made collection protocols.

Please contact us anytime to discuss your special research projects and customized human tissue sample requirements.

Bay Biosciences provides human tissue samples (human specimens) from diseased and normal healthy donors which includes:

  • Peripheral whole-blood,
  • Amniotic fluid
  • Bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BAL)
  • Sputum
  • Pleural effusion
  • Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF)
  • Serum (sera)
  • Plasma
  • Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC’s)
  • Saliva
  • Buffy coat
  • Urine
  • Stool samples
  • Aqueous humor
  • Vitreous humor
  • Kidney stones (renal calculi)
  • Other bodily fluids from most diseases including cancer.

We can also procure most human bio-specimens and can-do special collections and requests of human samples that are difficult to find. All our human tissue samples are procured through IRB approved clinical protocols and procedures. 

In addition to the standard processing protocols Bay Biosciences can also provide human plasmaserum, PBMC bio-fluid samples using custom processing protocols, you can buy donor specific sample collections in higher volumes and specified sample aliquots from us.

 Bay Biosciences also provides human samples from normal healthy donors, volunteers, for controls and clinical research, contact us Now.

 

日本のお客様は、ベイバイオサイエンスジャパンBay Biosciences Japanまたはhttp://baybiosciences-jp.com/contact/までご連絡ください。