Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Radiotherapy beams are classified by the particle they are intended to deliver, such as photons (as x-rays or gamma rays), electrons, and heavy ions; x-rays and electron beams are by far the most widely used sources for external beam radiotherapy. Orthovoltage ("superficial") X-rays are used for treating skin cancer and superficial structures.
Doctor reviewing a radiation treatment plan. In radiotherapy, radiation treatment planning (RTP) is the process in which a team consisting of radiation oncologists, radiation therapist, medical physicists and medical dosimetrists plan the appropriate external beam radiotherapy or internal brachytherapy treatment technique for a patient with cancer.
Medicine has used radiation therapy as a treatment for cancer for more than 100 years, with its earliest roots traced from the discovery of X-rays in 1895 by Wilhelm Röntgen. [119] Emil Grubbe of Chicago was possibly the first American physician to use X-rays to treat cancer, beginning in 1896. [120]
From the early days of radiation therapy, X-rays or gamma rays were used to develop large format radiographic films for inspection. With the introduction of cobalt-60 machines in the 1950s, radiation went deeper inside the body, but with lower contrast and poor subjective visibility.
Due to the higher ionization density caused by soft X-ray radiation in the tissue, the relative biological effectiveness (RBE) of low-energy X-rays on tumor cells is higher when compared to high-energy X-rays or gamma rays which are delivered by linear accelerators. [15]
In medicine, proton therapy, or proton radiotherapy, is a type of particle therapy that uses a beam of protons to irradiate diseased tissue, most often to treat cancer.The chief advantage of proton therapy over other types of external beam radiotherapy is that the dose of protons is deposited over a narrow range of depth; hence in minimal entry, exit, or scattered radiation dose to healthy ...
Radionuclide therapy can be used to treat conditions such as hyperthyroidism, thyroid cancer, skin cancer and blood disorders. In nuclear medicine therapy, the radiation treatment dose is administered internally (e.g. intravenous or oral routes) or externally direct above the area to treat in form of a compound (e.g. in case of skin cancer).
Tomotherapy treatment times can be as low as 6.5 minutes for common prostate treatment, [7] excluding extra time for imaging. Modern tomotherapy and conventional linac systems incorporate one or both of megavoltage X-ray or kilovoltage X-ray imaging systems, enabling image-guided radiation therapy (IGRT). In tomotherapy, images are acquired in ...