Furthermore, approximately 50% of all cancer patients will receive radiation therapy during their course of illness 9, 10 with an estimation that radiation therapy contributes to around 40% towards curative treatment 11.
The current average radiotherapy utilisation rate for Australian cancer patients is estimated at 38.1%, while the agreed target level is 52.3%12.
Approximately 50%-60% of all people diagnosed with cancer receive radiation therapy at some point during their care. If every cancer patient who needs radiation therapy had access to it, estimates show that more than 1 million more lives would be saved every year.
Radiation therapy was first used to treat cancer more than 100 years ago. About half of all cancer patients still receive it at some point during their treatment.
For cancers diagnosed between 2013 and 2016 in England, of those receiving at least one of the main treatment types, 28% were treated with chemotherapy, 27% with radiotherapy and 45% with surgery, with some cancers receiving a combination.
Despite the side effects, radiotherapy can be a highly effective treatment for cancer. 4 out of every 10 cancer cures include radiotherapy as part of the treatment plan. However, radiotherapy doesn't cause cancerous tumours to shrink immediately and it can take some time for the beneficial effects to become apparent.
Moreover, the typical radiation therapy cost in India varies and ranges from Rs. 50,000* to Rs 1,00,000*. Radiation therapists are in charge of providing radiation therapy to patients securely and efficiently. They use advanced technology to target cancer cells while minimising exposure to healthy tissues.
More than half of people with cancer get radiation therapy. Sometimes, radiation therapy is the only cancer treatment needed and sometimes it's used with other types of treatment. The decision to use radiation therapy depends on the type and stage of cancer, and other health problems a patient might have.
Adding the solid cancers and leukaemia cases, the total estimate is of 553 radiation-attributable cancers in males (0.35% of all cancers) and 617 cancers in females (0.40% of all cancers).
The overall 5-year survival rate was 27%. For 105 patients treated definitively with radiation therapy, the median and 5-year survival rate figures were 26.0 months and 40%. For 149 patients treated with adjuvant radiation therapy, the 5-year survival rate was 62% (median survival rate not reached).
Radiation therapy remains an important component of cancer treatment with approximately 50% of all cancer patients receiving radiation therapy during their course of illness; it contributes towards 40% of curative treatment for cancer.
Types of cancer that are treated with radiation therapy
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.
Radiotherapy may be used in the early stages of cancer or after it has started to spread. It can be used to: try to cure the cancer completely (curative radiotherapy) make other treatments more effective – for example, it can be combined with chemotherapy or used before surgery (neo-adjuvant radiotherapy)
More than 14 million new cases of cancer are diagnosed globally each year; radiation therapy (RT) has the potential to improve the rates of cure of 3.5 million people and provide palliative relief for an additional 3.5 million people.
How sensitive your body is to radiation. A fetus is most vulnerable to the effects of radiation. Infants, children, older adults, pregnant women, and people with compromised immune systems are more vulnerable to health effects than healthy adults.
The fact that only 5–10% of all cancer cases are due to genetic defects and that the remaining 90–95% are due to environment and lifestyle provides major opportunities for preventing cancer.
Although radiation therapy effectively treats many types of cancer, it may also increase your likelihood of developing a different cancer in the future. For many people, the benefits of radiation therapy are worth the risk.
Cancers associated with high dose exposure include leukemia, breast, bladder, colon, liver, lung, esophagus, ovarian, multiple myeloma, and stomach cancers.
But those who didn't get radiation were much more likely to have their cancer come back and need more treatment. “Radiotherapy can place a heavy burden on patients, particularly older ones.
Does Radiation Oncology Have Fewer Side Effects Compared to Chemotherapy? Radiation oncology and chemotherapy are both effective cancer treatments; however, they are different in many ways. Radiation oncology is localized: it targets only the affected area of the body, and therefore, tends to have fewer side effects.
Radiotherapy is generally free in public facilities. The problem is that roughly 50 per cent of public radiotherapy is now provided by the private sector, which increases the chances of patients incurring out-of-pocket fees.
Highlights. The 30-day mortality rate after palliative radiotherapy is an important quality metric. The overall 30-day mortality rate after palliative radiotherapy is found to be 16%. Certain subgroups have higher/lower rate of palliative radiotherapy at the end of life.
The most common early side effects are fatigue (feeling tired) and skin changes. Other early side effects usually are related to the area being treated, such as hair loss and mouth problems when radiation treatment is given to this area.