According to World Health Organization (WHO) statistics from the 1990s, 45% of malignant tumors are curable, 22% of which are cured by surgery, 18% by radiation therapy, and 5% by drugs and other methods. At present, about 70% of tumor patients need to receive radiotherapy at different stages of the disease process. This shows the importance of radiotherapy in the treatment of tumors. What is chemotherapy? Chemotherapy is a kind of treatment that uses chemical drugs to kill tumor cells, inhibit the growth and reproduction of tumor cells and promote the differentiation of tumor cells, it is a systemic treatment that has therapeutic effect on primary foci, metastases and subclinical metastases. The disadvantage is that the selectivity of chemotherapeutic drugs is poor, and while achieving therapeutic effects, toxic side effects of different degrees often occur; physical weakness, mental depression, sweating, decrease in white blood cells and platelets, or even decrease in red blood cells and hematocrit during chemotherapy, even forcing patients to stop treatment. The use of Chinese herbal medicine with chemotherapy can effectively eliminate these toxic side effects and at the same time create synergy with chemotherapy, increasing the therapeutic effect of chemotherapy. What is radiotherapy? Radiotherapy is one of the three major treatment methods for cancer. It is a treatment method that uses various types of energy to irradiate tumors in order to inhibit and kill cancer cells. Radiotherapy can be used alone or in combination with surgery and chemotherapy as part of a comprehensive treatment to improve the cure rate of cancer. The difference between radiotherapy and chemotherapy should be distinguished I. The difference between radiotherapy and chemotherapy: different treatment modality Radiotherapy is a treatment modality that uses radiation to kill cancer cells, which is an important means of treating malignant tumors and can produce better results for many cancers. However, radiotherapy can produce many toxic side effects such as radioactive dermatitis, radioactive esophagitis and loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhea or constipation, etc. Clinically, it is advocated to cooperate with Chinese medicine treatment, which can not only effectively eliminate these toxic side effects, but also increase the radiosensitivity of cancer cells and help the radiation to kill cancer cells completely. Chemotherapy is a treatment method that uses chemical drugs to kill tumor cells, inhibit the growth and reproduction of tumor cells and promote the differentiation of tumor cells. It is a systemic treatment method that has therapeutic effects on primary foci, metastases and subclinical metastases. The disadvantage is that the selectivity of chemotherapy drugs is poor, and while achieving therapeutic effects, toxic side effects of different degrees often occur; physical weakness, mental depression, sweating, decrease in white blood cells and platelets, or even decrease in red blood cells and hematocrit during chemotherapy, even forcing patients to stop treatment. It can effectively eliminate these toxic side effects and at the same time form synergistic effects with chemotherapy to increase the therapeutic effect of chemotherapy. The difference between radiotherapy and chemotherapy: different treatment time and site The focus of radiotherapy and chemotherapy is different The length of radiotherapy is decided by doctors according to the total radiation dose and the different radiation biological effects of different sites and tumors. Generally, it takes 6 – 8 weeks, with daily irradiation, 5 times a week and 2 days of rest. This is good for the recovery of normal cells and tissues and protects your healthy tissues. During radiotherapy, try not to interrupt the treatment to avoid prolonging the treatment time and reducing the effect of radiotherapy. In order to make the toxins released by the necrosis of tumor cells due to radiotherapy to be discharged out of the body as soon as possible, you should drink more water. The daily water consumption should be about 3000ml to increase the urine volume and reduce the systemic reaction. The difference between radiotherapy and chemotherapy: different treatment plans The difference between radiotherapy and chemotherapy is that chemotherapy should be formulated. When oncologists give chemotherapy to tumor patients, they will choose appropriate chemotherapy regimen for different tumor types, and the chemotherapy regimen is usually the combination of one or several chemotherapy drugs. Why is the combination of several drugs used? Because the main purpose of chemotherapy is to maximize the killing of tumor cells and at the same time to reduce the toxic side effects of chemotherapy drugs on normal cells in human body. Therefore, oncologists will consider the killing power of drugs on tumor cells, the toxicity of drugs, the effect on the proliferation phase of tumor, and the tolerance of individual patients, and select the optimal plan for treatment from the scientific chemotherapy plan. The difference between radiotherapy and chemotherapy: different dietary regimen Food adjustment according to the reactions in radiotherapy, such as selenium supplementation with Body Health brand selenium chewable tablets after the decrease of white blood cells. Selenium is a strong antioxidant, the human body can rapidly improve the body’s antioxidant capacity to remove harmful free radicals and reduce the side effects of radiotherapy by supplementing selenium in large doses during radiotherapy. If the patient suffers from loss of appetite and indigestion due to radiotherapy, he can be given a small number of meals, and eat in several times without reducing the total intake. It is not recommended to avoid eating during radiotherapy. Patients should get enough sleep every day before chemotherapy, usually not less than 8 hours a day for adults, and pay attention to the color and flavor of dishes, ensure sufficient protein intake, eat more vitamin-rich and easily digestible things, eat more fruits and vegetables, eat less fried food, and pay attention to diet allocation. When radiotherapy patients receive radiotherapy, there will be more or less some radiotherapy reactions, such as oral mucous membrane reaction, loss of appetite, etc. As these reactions will affect the appetite of patients, so the dietary adjustment of radiotherapy patients is a very important issue, which can make radiotherapy go more smoothly. First of all, the patient’s diet should follow the principle of “three highs and one low”. The so-called three high means high vitamin, high protein, high calorie, such as lean meat, seafood, fresh fruits, vegetables, etc.; one low means low fat; secondly, patients should eat light and easy to digest food, avoid greasy and spicy, and try to make it tasty and mellow, so that patients can easily accept it; V. The difference between radiotherapy and chemotherapy: different toxic reactions In general, radiotherapy is mainly local reactions, which are related to radiotherapy field. For example, head and neck radiotherapy may cause dry mouth, sore throat, neck fibrosis, loss of taste function and so on. Radiotherapy to the chest may result in radioactive lung changes, radioactive esophagitis, etc. With the advancement of radiotherapy technology, radioactive brain damage and paraplegia, which used to occur frequently, are less common. Systemic reactions to chemotherapy are the main ones, usually bone marrow suppression, gastrointestinal reactions, such as decreased blood count, nausea, vomiting, and phlebitis. With proper management, severe reactions such as liver and kidney damage and cardiac damage are not very common in clinical practice. Nowadays, technology is developing and the toxic side effects of radiotherapy are being gradually reduced.