Are there any side effects of cancer radiation therapy

Radiotherapy, as one of the main means of treating tumors, occupies an important position whether applied alone or in combination with other means of treating tumors. It is understood that Wuhan No. 5 Hospital (Wuhan Five Medical Tumor Hospital), one of the earliest hospitals in Hubei Province to adopt radiation therapy, has treated more than 30,000 patients with various types of tumors. Recently, experts introduced readers to the relevant knowledge about radiation therapy. With the continuous development of computer technology and imaging technology, radiotherapy has become one of the three major means of tumor treatment (the other two are surgery and chemotherapy). 70% of tumor patients need radiotherapy. More than 70% of these tumor patients need radiotherapy, and 40% of tumor patients use radiotherapy as their main treatment.” Prof. Long Zhixiong, director of the oncology department of Wuhan No. 5 Hospital, said that radiotherapy is now second only to surgery, which is a good thing for tumor patients. The principle of radiotherapy is to use radiation to kill cancer cells, but since tumor cells grow in normal tissues, when radiotherapy was done in the past, in order to prevent cancer cells from leaking out of the network, it was necessary to expand the scope of radiotherapy irradiation, and it would hurt normal tissues. Prof. Long Zhixiong said that less normal organs are injured in the process of radiotherapy, and now radiotherapy has completely bid farewell to the “era of clay artillery” and entered the “era of missiles” which is precise, accurate and ruthless. Technology Radiotherapy technology is more accurate, to avoid injury to the “innocent” traditional radiotherapy is to “kill a thousand enemies, self-inflicted injuries,” with the development of computer technology and imaging technology, in the precise location, can maximize the radiation dose focused on the lesion area, killing tumor Tumor cells. Radiation therapy is a complex process that includes steps such as fixation of the patient’s position, target area determination and organ outlining. Errors and uncertainties in these processes may exist independently or interact with each other, and any error may lead to treatment failure. Therefore, it is important to conduct radiation therapy with rigorous overall quality assessment and control measures and quality assurance goals in place from the outset. “Now that 70% of tumor patients require radiation therapy, there is a greater need to emphasize radiotherapy techniques.” Prof. Lung Chi-hung said that patients need to understand that conventional radiotherapy is only the beginning stage of radiotherapy technology, which is now more precise and therefore reduces its side effects.