Radiate Positivity: Radiation Therapy as Cancer Treatment

Written by Natalie Tran and Edited by Catherine Zhang

Image by PublicDomainPictures from Pixabay

While radiation serves as a source of superpowers in the world of vibrant vigilantes and supervillains, in the real world, radiation has a more practical use. Radiotherapy, or radiation therapy, is a growing mode of treatment for cancer, which is estimated to afflict a projected 1.8 million new Americans by the end of 2020 [1].

Like a house of cards, the atoms in a cell’s DNA are precisely structured; radiotherapy, which delivers a high dose of energy to the cell, is similar to throwing a rubber ball through a house of cards, causing the bonds between finely arranged atoms to break [2]. Consequently, the DNA of the cell is damaged, and apoptosis, programmed cell death, ensues [2]. Though there are many methods that can be used to deliver topical radiation, one of the most common is using external machines, such as linear accelerators (LINAC) to accelerate, focus, and transfer particles [3].

Radiotherapy can be incorporated into treatment for different stages of cancer. For early, nonmetastatic—or stationary—cancers, radiation can be used to permanently terminate a tumor [4]. Conversely, radiotherapy can be used palliatively, which means treating symptoms of late-stage, incurable cancer [5].

The radiotherapy process is simple. First, the patient is immobilized using a thermoplastic shell or vacuum bag to avoid misapplying radiation. Then, the tumor is located using various scanning methods [3]. Lastly, radiation is topically applied. The accessibility of radiotherapy is fairly limited since it can be very expensive, depending on the frequency of treatment and characteristics of the tumor [6]. Additionally, not many facilities are equipped to administer radiotherapy due to the expensive equipment involved; in fact, as of 2005, there were only 2,246 facilities in the United States capable of providing radiotherapy services [7].

As a technique, radiotherapy has been demonstrated to help successfully battle cancer. A study spanning 13 years found that those who were given radiotherapy before a cancer-removal operation were ten percent more likely to survive the cancer they were battling; likewise, local recurrence for those who underwent radiotherapy was only 9%, whereas those who did not undergo the therapy had a recurrence rate of 26% [8]. As such, radiotherapy helped significantly increase the likelihood of survival for patients with cancer.

However, there are some weaknesses associated with radiotherapy – the main being damage to normal tissues. Though the main target of radiotherapy is tumor cells, healthy tissues may also be subjected to the same treatment and become collateral damage. A development in radiotherapy application known as stereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SABR) can decrease the likelihood of damaging healthy, functioning cells. This new method allows clinicians to deliver higher doses of radiation with more precision compared to conventional methods, thus allowing cells around the tumor to remain unaffected and decreasing the damage to normal, healthy tissue [9].

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