Cancer patients and results of radiations Essay

Cancer patients and results of radiations - Essay Example The primary types of cancer treatments include surgery, chemotherapy and radiation. Biologic, hormone and targeted therapies also exist. Surgery involves the removal of cancerous tissue or tumor. Radiation therapy and chemotherapy on the other hand, are non-invasive. Radiation therapy is used to treat cancer cells that are localized, while chemotherapy is used to treat cancer cells that are no longer localized and have spread to other parts of the body. In radiation therapy, patients are subjected to high-energy radiation to kill cancer cells and shrink tumors (National Cancer Institute i). Common types of radiations used in this treatment include gamma rays, charged particles and X-rays. The radiation could be delivered externally or internally. Around half of all cancer patients undergo some form of radiation therapy during their treatment (National Cancer Institute i). Radiation therapy damages the DNA of cancer cells in order to kill them. While radiation therapy is used to kill cancer cells, it may also damage normal cells, resulting in serious side-effects. Chemotherapy involves the use of strong drugs administered orally or through injection. Like radiation therapy, chemotherapy also has serious side effects depending on the length of the treatment, the types of drugs taken and the amount of dosage administered. Some of the side effects include vomiting, nausea, hair loss, fatigue and increased chances of infections (American Cancer Society 11). Similarly, the side effects of radiation therapy depend on the body area being treated, dosage administered per day, total dosage given, general medical condition and other treatments that are being administered at the same time (National Cancer Institute x). It can cause both early and late side effects. Early (acute) side effects are those that occur during the treatment while late