Radiation Therapy to Treat Cancer

Radiation therapy kills cancer cells or slows their growth by damaging their DNA.

Credit: National Cancer Institute

Radiation therapy (also called radiotherapy) is a cancer treatment that uses high doses of radiation to kill
cancer cells and shrink tumors. At low doses, radiation is used in x-rays to see inside your body, as with x-
rays of your teeth or broken bones.

ON THIS PAGE

How Radiation Therapy Works Against Cancer

Types of Radiation Therapy

Why People with Cancer Receive Radiation Therapy

Types of Cancer that Are Treated with Radiation Therapy

How Radiation Is Used with Other Cancer Treatments

Lifetime Dose Limits

Radiation Therapy Can Cause Side Effects

How Much Radiation Therapy Costs

Special Diet Needs

Working During Radiation Therapy

How Radiation Therapy Works Against Cancer

At high doses, radiation therapy kills cancer cells or slows their growth by damaging their DNA. Cancer
cells whose DNA is damaged beyond repair stop dividing or die. When the damaged cells die, they are
broken down and removed by the body.

Radiation therapy does not kill cancer cells right away. It takes days or weeks of treatment before DNA is
damaged enough for cancer cells to die. Then, cancer cells keep dying for weeks or months after
radiation therapy ends.
Types of Radiation Therapy

There are two main types of radiation therapy, external beam and internal.

The type of radiation therapy that you may have depends on many factors, including:

The type of cancer

The size of the tumor

The tumor’s location in the body

How close the tumor is to normal tissues that are sensitive to radiation

Your general health and medical history

Whether you will have other types of cancer treatment

Other factors, such as your age and other medical conditions

External Beam Radiation Therapy

External beam radiation therapy comes from a machine that aims radiation at your cancer. The machine
is large and may be noisy. It does not touch you, but can move around you, sending radiation to a part of
your body from many directions.

Internal Radiation Therapy

Internal radiation therapy is a treatment in which a source of radiation is put inside your body. The
radiation source can be solid or liquid.

Internal radiation therapy with a solid source is called brachytherapy. In this type of treatment, seeds,
ribbons, or capsules that contain a radiation source are placed in your body, in or near the tumor. Like
external beam radiation therapy, brachytherapy is a local treatment and treats only a specific part of
your body.
With brachytherapy, the radiation source in your body will give off radiation for a while.

Learn more about brachytherapy.

Internal radiation therapy with a liquid source is called systemic therapy. Systemic means that the
treatment travels in the blood to tissues throughout your body, seeking out and killing cancer cells. You
receive systemic radiation therapy by swallowing, through a vein via an IV line, or through an injection.

With systemic radiation, your body fluids, such as urine, sweat, and saliva, will give off radiation for a
while.

Diagram showing a radiopharmaceutical and its structure which includes a radioactive compound, a
linker, and targeting molecule.

Radiation-Based Drugs Emerging as Cancer Therapies

Radiopharmaceuticals deliver radiation therapy directly and specifically to cancer cells.

Why People with Cancer Receive Radiation Therapy

Radiation therapy is used to treat cancer and ease cancer symptoms.

When used to treat cancer, radiation therapy can cure cancer, prevent it from returning, or stop or slow
its growth.

When treatments are used to ease symptoms, they are known as palliative treatments. External beam
radiation may shrink tumors to treat pain and other problems caused by the tumor, such as trouble
breathing or loss of bowel and bladder control. Pain from cancer that has spread to the bone can be
treated with systemic radiation therapy drugs called radiopharmaceuticals.

Types of Cancer that Are Treated with Radiation Therapy

External beam radiation therapy is used to treat many types of cancer.

Brachytherapy is most often used to treat cancers of the head and neck, breast, cervix, prostate, and eye.

A systemic radiation therapy called radioactive iodine, or I-131, is most often used to treat certain types
of thyroid cancer.

Another type of systemic radiation therapy, called targeted radionuclide therapy, is used to treat some
patients who have advanced prostate cancer or gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumor (GEP-
NET). This type of treatment may also be referred to as molecular radiotherapy.

How Radiation Is Used with Other Cancer Treatments

For some people, radiation may be the only treatment you need. But, most often, you will have radiation
therapy with other cancer treatments, such as surgery, chemotherapy, and immunotherapy. Radiation
therapy may be given before, during, or after these other treatments to improve the chances that
treatment will work. The timing of when radiation therapy is given depends on the type of cancer being
treated and whether the goal of radiation therapy is to treat the cancer or ease symptoms.

When radiation is combined with surgery, it can be given:

Before surgery, to shrink the size of the cancer so it can be removed by surgery and be less likely to
return. with your health insurance company about what services it will pay for. Most insurance plans pay
for radiation therapy. To learn more, talk with the business office at the clinic or hospital where you go
for treatment. If you need financial assistance, there are organizations that may be able to help. To find
such organizations, go to the National Cancer Institute database, Organizations that Offer Support
Services and search for "financial assistance." Or call toll-free 1-800-4-CANCER (1-800-422-6237) to ask
for information on organizations that may help.

Special Diet Needs

Radiation can cause side effects that make it hard to eat, such as nausea, mouth sores, and throat
problems called esophagitis. Since your body uses a lot of energy to heal during radiation therapy, it is
important that you eat enough calories and protein to maintain your weight during treatment.

If you are having trouble eating and maintaining your weight, talk to your doctor or nurse. You might also
find it helpful to speak with a dietitian. For more information about coping you have finished treatment,
it may take just a few weeks for you to feel better—or it could take months.

You may get to a point during your radiation therapy when you feel too sick to work. Talk with your
employer to find out if you can go on medical leave. Check that your health insurance will pay for
treatment while you are on medical leave.

Related Resources

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Radiation Therapy and You: Support for People With Cancer

During surgery, so that it goes straight to the cancer without passing through the skin. Radiation therapy
used this way is called intraoperative radiation. With this technique, doctors can more easily protect
nearby normal tissues from radiation.

After surgery to kill any cancer cells that remain.

Lifetime Dose Limits

There is a limit to the amount of radiation an area of your body can safely receive over the course of
your lifetime. Depending on how much radiation an area has already been treated with, you may not be
able to have radiation therapy to that area a second time. But, if one area of the body has already
received the safe lifetime dose of radiation, another area might still be treated if the distance between
the two areas is large enough.

Radiation Therapy Can Cause Side Effects

Radiation not only kills or slows the growth of cancer cells, it can also affect nearby healthy cells.
Damage to healthy cells can cause side effects.

Learn more about the side effects of radiation therapy.

How Much Radiation Therapy Costs

Radiation therapy can be expensive. It uses complex machines and involves the services of many health
care providers. The exact cost of your radiation therapy depends on the cost of health care where you
live, what type of radiation therapy you get, and how many treatments you need.

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PDQ® Cancer Information Summaries: Adult Treatment

PDQ® Cancer Information Summaries: Pediatric Treatment

Updated: January 8, 2019

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External beam radiation therapy is a local treatment, which means it treats a specific part of your body.
For example, if you have cancer in your lung, you will have radiation only to your chest, not to your
whole body.

Learn more about external beam radiation therapy.