Question 1

how do you treat severe dry mouth, cracked lips, and a white tongue as a side effect of radiation therapy? how long will these symptoms last?

Accepted Answer

Prevention is best: The team treating you should know some moith-moistening and hygeine routines to make this a little better.  Many patients use jelly like aquaphor on the skin but, this should not be put into the mouth.  Keep up your intake of water/fluids and use moisturing balm on the lips.  Unfortunately, these problems can far outlast the treatment with people reporting them as far as a year after the radiation.

Question 2

what is radiation therapy?

Accepted Answer

Kill cancer by Rads: Use of high energy x-ray typically ( protons, gamma rays etc to name a few other) to cause irreparable damage to a target tumor to destroy the tumor while causing minimal damage to surrounding organs and tissues.

Question 3

is radiation therapy painful?

Accepted Answer

No: Radiation therapy is essentially a high energy x-ray.  So just like getting a ct scan is not painful getting radiation therapy is also not painful.

Question 4

what is radiation therapy useful for?

Accepted Answer

Many things: Radiation therapy is used to decrease the risk of recurrence in breast cancer; it has treatment value in many other cancers including rectal, prostate, head and neck, lung and pancreatic cancers. In addition, it is useful for decreasing pain in cancer which has spread to bone. Lastly, it helps in disease which has traveled to the brain or skin. More uses available but space limited!

Question 5

what is the cost of radiation therapy?

Accepted Answer

Tech + Pro: The equipment and those that run it and plan your treatment and deliver it daily are covered as a medicare technical charge.  The doctor the perscibes and monitors is a second aspect. Together technical and professional charges. Each have cpt - codes for charges. The tech charge pays salaries and depreciation costs for equipment. Doc fees for their expertise.

Question 6

what is the goal of radiation therapy?

Accepted Answer

Cure or Palliation: Depending on the extent of disease involvement and type of tumor being treated, the goal is either curitive or palliative.

Question 7

what are the problems of radiation therapy?

Accepted Answer

Depends on site: Radiation treatments are limited in terms of side effects to the area treated, except possibly a low risk of causing leukemia.

Question 8

how many weeks does radiation therapy last?

Accepted Answer

0-7 weeks.: The most common method for treating breast cancer is external beam rt ("outside-in") given over 7 weeks; this can be accelerated over 4 weeks in some settings.  Brachytherapy is an option for some patients, where the rt is given from the "inside-out" over 5 days.  A handful of centers are now offering intraoperative rt, popularized in europe, where the rt is given over minutes during lumpectomy.

Question 9

can radiation therapy increase cell growth?

Accepted Answer

No and Yes: Radiation therapy slows or stops cell growth. The goal is of course to kill cancer cells and they don't grow and die.  However if you look up the four r's of radiation biology.  The last one is repoplulation in which during fractionated radiation cells increase growth to  repopulate.  Luckily we see this more often in the good cells but unfortunately in some cases resistant cancer cells.

Question 10

is the radiation therapy a risky thing to do?

Accepted Answer

Depends: It depends on what cancer or ailment.  Where and how much radiation is given dictates how risky it is.  Radiation oncologists have the knowledge of consenting the patient and giving all the risks and complications so the patient makes an informed decision.  Everyday many patients are taking radiation treatments and the risks are considered low and reasonable.

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Effect radiation therapy

A member asked:

How do you treat severe dry mouth, cracked lips, and a white tongue as a side effect of radiation therapy? how long will these symptoms last?

A member asked:

What is radiation therapy?

A member asked:

Is radiation therapy painful?

A member asked:

What is radiation therapy useful for?

A member asked:

What is the cost of radiation therapy?

A member asked:

What is the goal of radiation therapy?

A member asked:

What are the problems of radiation therapy?

A member asked:

How many weeks does radiation therapy last?

A member asked:

Can radiation therapy increase cell growth?

A member asked:

Is the radiation therapy a risky thing to do?

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