Why You Should Know About Alternative Treatments

Radiation therapy is one of the best cures for cancer, but it’s also very hard on the human body. Radiation treatments leave patients feeling weak, sickly, nauseated, and fatigued. Radiation treatments also cause hair loss, shortness of breath, skin irritations, digestive problems, depression, and even anxiety.

With so many side effects, patients may seek alternative treatments before giving in to radiation treatment. It’s your job, as a radiation therapist, to educate yourself on the various alternative treatments so that you understand why those methods were chosen and can empathize with a patient who has succumbed to radiation therapy as well as the patient who has bailed out of the radiation treatment at the last minute only to return when alternative treatments don’t work.

Appearing knowledgeable to a frightened and often confused patient can help ease the anxiety and provide a moment of calm during each and every radiation treatment. The way you treat your patient, how you listen to his (or her) ramblings, insecurities, and concerns, and how you address each of those issues does affect the outcome of the radiation treatments and your patient’s health.

To learn more about the side effects of radiation therapy visit the American Cancer Society

Come back on Monday as we pediatric nuclear medicine.

How Radiation Therapy Works

The human body is made up of nearly 100 trillion cells. These cells work day and night to keep the body working properly. If a cell becomes ill, the cell automatically begins to repair itself. But when cancer enters the body the cell no longer has the ability to heal itself so it stops working and begins to affect other cells in the human body. As the cancer spreads, it replaces healthy cells with cancerous cells.

If nothing is done to stop the cancerous cells, the body stops functioning, it begins to shut down and eventually dies. To help the body fight cancerous cells, radiation is introduced into the body via radiation therapy.

Radiation therapy is essentially a burst of radioactive beams designed to target only the cancerous cells. The radioactive beams are given to the patient in small doses over a period of weeks. This allows the good cells to rejuvenate as the bad cells die off. With any luck, the cancer will completely die off and the patient will be allowed to return home where he (or she) can begin to recover.

As a radiation therapist, your job will be to make sure the correct burst of radiation is given to the patient. You will also need to make sure the radiation targets the cancerous cells while minimizing its effect on the healthy cells.

To learn more about how radiation therapy works visit:

Imaginis: The Breast Cancer Resource

• Prostate Cancer Treatment Guide
  

To learn more about how cancer spreads visit Health Castle

Come back on Friday as we discuss why you should know about alternative treatments.

Radiation Therapy And Prostate Cancer

According to the Center For Disease Control, 29,554 men died from prostate cancer in 2003, making annual check-ups for men over 40 years of age vital. Lest you think the number of deaths due to prostate cancer low, you should know that according to the American Cancer Society 235,000 men were diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2006.

The survival rate of men with prostate cancer increases with early detection but the survival rate truly depends on one of two treatments:

• Surgical removal of the prostate gland, or
  
• Radiation therapy.
  

Of the two choices, most men opt for radiation therapy because they have a 50% chance of remaining potent (the ability to continue sexual intercourse) and a chance to have children later one.

As a radiation therapist, your job will be to help these men hold onto their dignity, provide hope for the future, and treat their illnesses.

To learn more about radiation therapy for prostate cancer patients, check out:

• Urology Health
  
• Family Doctor
  

Come back on Wednesday as we discuss how radiation therapy works.