Radiation Cancer Treatment

Radiation therapy uses high doses of radiation to shrink tumors and kill cancer cells. There are two main types of radiation therapy, external beam and internal, and whether one or both is in your treatment plan depends on many factors, including cancer type, tumor size, where the tumor is in your body, the tumor’s proximity to normal tissues that are sensitive to radiation, your overall health and medical history, any other types of cancer treatment you may have, your age and other medical conditions.

External Beam Radiation Therapy

External Beam Radiation Therapy comes from a machine that is typically large, which aims radiation directly at your cancer. The machine doesn’t touch you but can move around you and send radiation from many directions to the part of your body with cancer cells. External Beam Radiation Therapy is delivered through BRG’s linear accelerator.

Internal Radiation Therapy

Internal Radiation Therapy uses solid or liquid radiation that is put in or near the tumor in your body.

How does radiation work against cancer?

High doses of radiation damage cancer cells’ DNA, killing them or slowing their growth so they will stop dividing or die. Damaged cells that die then break down and are removed by the body. Radiation can take days or weeks to damage DNA enough for cancer cells to die. After therapy ends, cancer cells keep dying for weeks or months.