Radiation Therapy (RT)

What is radiation therapy?

Radiation therapy uses high-energy radiation to shrink tumors and kill cancer cells. X-rays, gamma rays, and charged particles are types of radiation used for cancer treatment

The radiation may be delivered by a machine outside the body (external-beam radiation therapy), or it may come from radioactive material placed in the body near cancer cells (internal radiation therapy, also called brachytherapy).

http://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/treatment/types/radiation-therapy/radiation-fact-sheet#q1

Marie Curie AND RADIATION THERAPY

Marie Curie (1867–1934), who discovered the radioactive elements polonium and radium in 1898. This began a new era in medical treatment and research. Radium was used in various forms until the mid-1900s, when cobalt therapy and caesium units came into use. Finally, Medical Linear Accelerators have been used as radiation sources since the late 1940s.

http://www.biography.com/people/marie-urie-9263538

Radium THERAPY “Soon after the discovery of radium in 1898 by Marie Curie, there was speculation

in whether the radiation could be used for therapy in the same way as that from x-rays. The physiological effect of radium was first observed in 1900 by Otto Walkhoff,] and later confirmed by what famously known as the "Becquerel burn".

In 1901, Henri Becquerel, had placed a tube of radium in a waistcoat pocket where it had remained for several hours; a week or two after which there was severe inflammation of his skin underneath where the radium had been kept. Ernest Besnier, a dermatologist, examined the skin and expressed the opinion that it was due to the radium, leading to experiments by Curie which confirmed it. Besnier suggested the use of radium for therapy along the same purposes as x-rays and ultraviolet

Ionizing RADIATION

Ionizing (or ionising in British English) radiation is radiation that carries enough energy to free electrons from atoms or molecules, thereby ionizing them. Ionizing radiation is made up of energetic subatomic particles, ions or atoms moving at high speeds (usually greater than 1% of the speed of light), and electromagnetic waves on the high-energy end of the electromagnetic spectrum.

High radiation dose gives rise to deterministic effects which reliably occur above a threshold, and their severity increases with dose. Deterministic effects are not necessarily more or less serious than stochastic effects; either can ultimately lead to a temporary nuisance or a fatality. Examples are: radiation burns, and/or rapid fatality through acute radiation syndrome, chronic radiation syndrome, and radiation-induced thyroiditis

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ionizing_radiation

10 Key Terms

• Gamma Rays• Marie Curie• Polonium• Radiation Treatment• Radium• Ultraviolet• Electromagnetic Waves• Ionizing Radiation• Physiological effects• Medical linear accelerators

Critical Questions

1. When was radiation first used to treat cancer?

2. Who found out about radiation?

3. There are many side effects to using radiation therapy, but is it worth it worth the risk of forming another cancer?