Description: Our team of experts offers a variety of effective radiation therapy and radiation oncology services. Learn more about how it is used, possible side effects, and different types of therapy.
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Radiation therapy is one of the primary treatments for many cancers and is prescribed for more than one-half of cancer patients. It uses high-energy radiation beams (including X-rays, gamma rays, electrons, and protons) to destroy cancer cells. This treatment can be delivered by a machine outside the body using external-beam radiation therapy. It can also come from radioactive material placed in the body near cancer cells using internal radiation therapy, called brachytherapy.
Your therapy will be managed by a radiation oncologist, a doctor who specializes in the use of radiation to treat cancer. The type of radiation therapy you receive depends on your individual cancer treatment plan developed by your radiation oncology team. Following your treatment, you will have periodic scans to determine how your cancer responded to the radiation therapy. Sometimes, the results from the therapy are immediate. Other times, it takes weeks or months for cancer to respond.