Somewhere in a hospital room, the doctor had the following conversation with Xiao Long, who had cancer.
“Want radiation therapy?”
“Doctor, can you do without radiotherapy?”
“In your case, it’s better to have radiotherapy.”
“How long will it take?”
“First, one cycle of radiotherapy, and then decide the follow-up treatment plan according to the effect of radiotherapy.”
Xiao Long has nasopharyngeal cancer, and the doctor thinks radiotherapy is more effective, but Xiao Long resists radiotherapy in his heart, thinking the side effects are too great, which led to the above conversation.
In fact, there are many cancer patients who have similar views on radiotherapy. There are many information about radiotherapy on the Internet, which are mixed with true and false, making people confused. Is radiotherapy effective in treating cancer or not? Which cancers are suitable for radiotherapy?
What is true and what is false about radiotherapy, and can radiotherapy treat cancer or not?
When it comes to cancer treatment, the first thing that comes to mind is “chemotherapy”, while “radiotherapy”, which is different from chemotherapy, does not have such a strong position as chemotherapy. Many people are even skeptical about radiation therapy, wondering if it can effectively treat cancer and believing that its side effects make this treatment not trustworthy.
So what is radiation therapy? Radiation therapy, also known as “tumor radiation therapy”, is a local treatment method that uses radiation to treat tumors. Although radiotherapy has a short history of development, it has been rapidly developed in recent years under the influence of CT imaging technology and computer technology.
In clinical cancer treatment, surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy are in fact the “Three Musketeers”. Although many people think that radiotherapy is only suitable for adjuvant treatment because of its side effects, the World Health Organization has given radiotherapy a proper name and recognized that radiotherapy and surgery are important in cancer treatment.
Director Hou Youxian of the Radiotherapy Center of Guangzhou General Hospital of Guangzhou Military Region said that all cancer treatment methods have side effects, only depending on the severity of the side effects. Nowadays, the side effects of radiotherapy have been reduced a lot after a long development. Since it is a “local treatment” and uses rays, there is no incision and no damage to other organs, and its side effects are sometimes even smaller than chemotherapy. Therefore, the understanding of radiotherapy should be correct with the development of the times.
Can all cancers be treated with radiotherapy? Cancers that are suitable for radiotherapy
Like other treatments, radiotherapy is also applicable to different types and ranges of cancers. Some cancers in early stage can be treated by surgery directly, such as stage IA non-small cell lung cancer, where surgery is the best treatment method.
In this case, radiotherapy is not the primary treatment and can be used as an adjuvant treatment according to the doctor’s recommendation. For some cancers, radiotherapy can be used as the primary treatment, the most typical one is stage I nasopharyngeal cancer, and direct radiotherapy can be used. If nasopharyngeal carcinoma develops to stage II or III, specific analysis is needed, and targeted therapy or chemotherapy should be used instead of radiotherapy alone. For some advanced cancers, chemotherapy will be used, while surgery and radiotherapy will be used as adjuvant means according to the patient’s condition and doctor’s recommendation.
Is radiotherapy an all-purpose treatment? Side effects and relief methods of radiotherapy
Although radiotherapy has many advantages, the toxic side effects of radiotherapy can have a huge impact on patients, and some cancer patients may even lose their lives due to these toxic side effects.
First of all, the most common side effect is: nausea and vomiting. I believe many cancer patients are not unfamiliar with vomiting after treatment. This is because radiotherapy, while working, leads to gastrointestinal dysfunction, which affects the normal function of the stomach and causes discomfort. Cancer patients with this condition need to pay close attention to a light diet, not to overeat, and not to eat spicy food or drink alcohol to stimulate the stomach and intestines.
Secondly, radiotherapy can also have the side effect of “fever”. Although the tumor site will be scanned and killed, the residual necrotic tissues will be absorbed and affect the patient’s immune function and even cause viral infection. Therefore, cancer patients will have fever in their body. In this case, the patient needs to take more rest and drink more water. If the fever is too severe, fever-reducing drugs are needed.
Another toxic side effect of radiotherapy is the damage to the skin. Because radiation is administered by irradiating the skin during radiotherapy, skin that has been exposed to radiation for a long time will be damaged, with extreme dryness and peeling imagery. In case of prolonged radiotherapy, even ulceration may occur. In such a case, it is necessary for the patient to pay special attention to the care of the skin, to cleanse and hydrate it, and to take care of it carefully.
Conclusion: No matter it is radiotherapy or chemotherapy, for cancer patients, what can kill cancer cells and prolong their lives is a good solution, of course, medicine is three times toxic, we cannot be overly harsh on radiotherapy, as long as the side effects are within human tolerance, we should give enough tolerance. If not, please do not spread rumors.
