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Radiation Oncology is a branch of medicine specializing in the treatment of cancer with radiation. It includes diagnosis and treatment of cancer by means of various radiation and other imaging procedures (eg, x-rays, CT scans, MRI's, mammography, ultrasound). Radiation Oncology is also called radiation therapy or radiotherapy. Radiation oncology is the use of high-energy rays to damage cancer cells and stop them from growing and dividing. A specialist in radiation therapy is called a radiation oncologist, a radiation therapist or radiotherapist.
Radiation Therapy (or radiotherapy) is the medical use of ionizing radiation as part of cancer treatment to control malignant cells (not to be confused with radiology, the use of radiation in medical imaging and diagnosis). Radiotherapy may be used for curative or adjuvant cancer treatment. It is used as palliative treatment (where cure is not possible and the aim is for local disease control or symptomatic relief) or as therapeutic treatment (where the therapy has survival benefit but is not curative). Total body irradiation (TBI) is a radiotherapy technique used to prepare the body to receive a bone marrow transplant. Radiotherapy has a few applications in non-malignant conditions, such as the treatment of trigeminal neuralgia, severe thyroid eye, pterygium, prevention of keloid scar growth, and prevention of heterotropic bone formation. The use of radiotherapy in non-malignant conditions is limited partly by worries about the risk of radiation-induced cancers.
Radiotherapy is commonly used for the treatment of malignant tumors (cancer), and may be used as the primary therapy. It is also common to combine radiotherapy with surgery, chemotherapy, hormone therapy or some mixture of the three. Most common cancer types can be treated with radiotherapy in some way. The precise treatment intent (curative, adjuvant, neoadjuvant, therapeutic, or palliative) will depend on the tumor type, location, and stage, as well as the general health of the patient.
Radiation therapy is commonly applied to the tumour. The radiation fields may also include the draining lymph nodes if they are clinically or radiologically involved with tumour, or if there is thought to be a risk of subclinical malignant spread. It is necessary to include a margin of normal tissue around the tumour to allow for uncertainties in daily set-up and internal tumor motion. These uncertainties can be caused by internal movement (for example, respiration and bladder filling) and movement of external skin marks relative to the tumour position.
To spare normal tissues (such as skin or organs which radiation must pass through in order to treat the tumour), shaped radiation beams are aimed from several angles of exposure to intersect at the tumour, providing a much larger absorbed dose there than in the surrounding, healthy tissue. Like surgery, radiation oncology is essentially a local treatment; it affects cancer cells only in the treated area. Radiation can come from a machine (external radiation). It can also come from an implant (a small container of radioactive material) placed directly into or near the tumor (internal radiation). Some patients receive both kinds of radiation therapy.
Medical Opinions Associates has Radiation Oncology experts to review films and other medical records and opine as to whether medical negligence has occurred. For example, one such expert is Chief Resident, Department of Radiation Oncology at a major New York City hospital. He is also a Clinical Assistant Professor in Radiation Oncology at a New York City School of Medicine. He specializes in genitourinary, pulmonary, and hematologic conditions and has done prostate and interstitial brachytherapy implants and has special interest in cutaneous radiotherapy (skin cancer, keloids, melanoma, cutaneous lymphomas) and soft tissue sarcomas. Another of our Radiation Oncology experts is Director, Department of Radiation Oncology, at a Massachusetts hospital, having received his Medical Degree from the University of Chicago. He is also presently an Associate Professor of Radiology at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester, Massachusetts.
Whatever your radiation oncology needs, Medical Opinions Associates has highly-qualified medical experts to provide whatever support is required.
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