Radiation therapy is a type of a local medical treatment that influences only a certain part of the human body. That's why radiation therapy application is useful in those occasions, when the cancer is limited to only one or a few areas. If the cancer is extended, the radiation therapy is not actual.

With the help of X-rays that pass through the human organism the internal bodies are photographed on sensitive film. Different tissues give different pictures that help the doctor to define the anomalies. Radiation therapy dosage is very low and does not damage the nearby tissues. However, the cumulative effect is present.

For treatment purposes a higher radiation therapy dosage is used. The dosage must be enough for cancer cell destruction.

The radiation therapy principles lie in maximum influence on the tumor and least involvement of surrounding tissues. When using distant radiation therapy, the radiation therapy dosage is divided into 2 smaller daily groups. In interruptions between procedures, healthy cells are able for partial recovery. At the radiation therapy session, a beam or several beams are directed on the part of the organism from the outside.

The other method lies in radiation source insertion inside the human body. The radiation source (usually natural substance, caesium for example) may be placed into the tumor or in the nearby area. Radiation therapy application with inserted source gives the exact dosage in the needed location. This method is applied for cervix cancer and mammary gland treatment. As the radiation source is inside the body the radiation level in the patient organism is small and is eliminated with source removal.

There is another way of implementing radiation therapy. The radiation is inserted with drink or with the help of injection. It is used when affected part of the body accepts this substance. Thyroid gland treatment by radioactive iodine may serve as an example.

Radiation therapy principles are widely used for cancer control and relief from difficult symptoms, improving the life of the patient. The tumors often call the discomfort and pain if they press the nerve or the bone. Radiation therapy application may relieve from these manifestations of a disease.

Before radiation therapy application, the tumor must be studied, screened and explored with X-ray methods. If there is a hope on cancer cure, it is necessary to make detailed planning for accuracy of radioactive beam directivity on the tumor. When the radiation therapy is applied for relief from bad after-effects of a cancer, such planned actions are not necessary. Radiation therapy dosage is small enough and cannot damage the normal area of organs.

Radiation therapy is one of the basic approaches to cancer treatment. Modern technologies of medical treatment became very compound and gave an ability to guide the radioactive beam very careful. Although the radiation therapy has a lot of bad side-effects, almost all of them disappear after the therapy course ends.

Radiation therapy, a prime example of harnessing a power greater than ourselves for the treatment of disease.