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Radiation therapy is commonly used in prostate cancer treatment. It may be used instead of surgery or after surgery in early-stage prostate cancer (adjuvant radiotherapy). Radiation treatments also can be combined with hormonal therapy for intermediate risk disease, when surgery or radiation therapy alone is less likely to cure the cancer.
It is distinct from acute radiation syndrome, in that it occurs at dose rates low enough to permit natural repair mechanisms to compete with the radiation damage during the exposure period. Dose rates high enough to cause the acute form (> ~0.1 Gy/h) are fatal long before onset of the chronic form.
Since its introduction in the mid-1980s, prostate brachytherapy has become a well-established treatment option for patients with early, localised disease. In the US, over 50,000 eligible prostate cancer patients a year are treated using this method. [12] Brachytherapy is now in widespread use across the world.
[45] [46] Moreover, the lifetime incidence of breast cancer in men is approximately 0.1%, [47] the average age of diagnosis of prostate cancer and male breast cancer are similar (around 70 years), [10] [48] and millions of men have been treated with bicalutamide for prostate cancer, [49] all of which are potentially in support of the notion of ...
Radiation therapy treatments to the head and neck regions for soft tissue, palate or bone cancer can cause chronic sinus tract draining and fistulae from the bone. [5] Lymphedema Lymphedema, a condition of localized fluid retention and tissue swelling, can result from damage to the lymphatic system sustained during radiation therapy.
Ionizing radiation is generally harmful and potentially lethal to living things but can have health benefits in radiation therapy for the treatment of cancer and thyrotoxicosis. Its most common impact is the induction of cancer with a latent period of years or decades after exposure.
Eben Byers, a famous American socialite, died of multiple cancers (but not acute radiation syndrome) in 1932 after consuming large quantities of radium over several years; his death drew public attention to dangers of radiation. By the 1930s, after a number of cases of bone necrosis and death in enthusiasts, radium-containing medical products ...
Experiencing fatigue before treatment, being depressed or anxious, getting too little exercise, and having other medical conditions are all associated with higher levels of fatigue in post-treatment cancer survivors. [2] Receiving multiple types of treatments, such as chemotherapy and radiation, is associated with more fatigue. [3]