How Does Radiation Cure Cancer?

Radiation Is a High-Energy Beam

Radiation is waves or streams of particles that are highly energetic. Radiation ionizes atoms and molecules. The extent of ionization depends on the energy of the waves or the individual particles. Ionization alters the properties of atoms and subsequently the properties of the molecule that the atoms make up.

Two Ways of Generating Radiation

First, radiation can come from special machines, similar to X-ray machines, but in higher doses. The figure above shows a linear accelerator, which is a machine often used in radiation therapy.
Second, radiation can be generated from radioactive sources. For medical purposes, radioactive materials are often made into pellets or seeds, which will placed next to the targeted cancer site.

Radiation Ionizes DNA of Cancer Cells.

Radiation ionizes and affects molecules within cancer cells, particularly DNA of the cancer cells. This affects the ability of cells to grow and divide. Although cells have mechanisms to repair DNA damage, the damage might be too extensive and the cancer cells might not recover completely. The damage is then accumulated in cancer cells, generation after generation. This eventually causes the cancer cells to die or to proliferate more slowly.
It takes on average 2-3 weeks after the start of cancer treatment for cancer cells starting to die. Cancer cells continue to die months after the treatment.

Effects of Radiation Are Selective to Cancer Cells

Although healthy cells also suffer from DNA damage due to radiation, their ability to fix their damage is far superior to that of cancer cells. Furthermore, cancer cells tend to reproduce more frequently than normal cells, which accelerate the process of accumulating DNA damage. Following radiation treatment, cancer cells exhibit more cell deaths than normal cells.

Effective Method to Control and to Cure Cancer.

Radiation therapy is used in combination with surgery, chemotherapy, immunotherapy and hormone therapy to treat cancer. Use of radiation significantly increases the chances of a patient's survival and reduces risk of cancer recurrence. For instance, a patient who undergoes lumpectomy to remove breast cancer has a 30 to 40 percent chance of cancer recurrence. Radiation reduces the risk of breast cancer recurrence to less than 10 percent.

Side effects

Radiation has many side effects, including swelling, inflammation, infertility, fatigue, fibrosis and hair loss.