✨ Radiotherapy: Using Energy to Treat Disease
Radiotherapy, also known as radiation therapy, is a medical treatment that utilizes precisely focused beams of intense energy to damage the genetic material (DNA) within cells. This damage prevents the cells from growing and dividing, causing them to die. While both cancerous and healthy cells can be affected, cancer cells are generally less capable of repairing this damage than healthy cells, making the treatment effective.
More than half of all people diagnosed with cancer receive some form of radiotherapy as part of their treatment plan.
🔬 How Radiotherapy Works
The fundamental goal of radiotherapy is to deliver a lethal dose of radiation to the target area (the tumor) while sparing as much of the surrounding healthy tissue as possible.
The Mechanism:
Ionizing Radiation: Radiotherapy most often uses high-energy X-rays (photons), but can also use other particles like electrons or protons. This energy is called ionizing radiation because it creates charged particles (ions) within the cells it hits.
DNA Damage: These ions directly or indirectly damage the DNA, which is the cell's "instruction manual." When a cancer cell's DNA is too damaged to repair itself, the cell can no longer reproduce and dies.
Fractionation: Treatment is typically divided into smaller daily doses, called fractions, over a period of several weeks. This allows the damaged healthy cells time to recover between sessions, while the cancer cells, which are less efficient at repair, continue to accumulate lethal damage.