Radiotherapy: the unsung hero of cancer care, say experts
Source: news.oneindia.in Author: staff Experts at the world's leading cancer charity have said that radiotherapy, which is a crucial cancer treatment, is often the unsung hero of cancer care. Although surgery is often the first-line of treatment and anti-cancer drugs make more headlines, radiotherapy zaps cancer cells, complements chemotherapy, relieves symptoms and shrinks tumors before surgery. In fact, four out of ten cancer patients who have beaten the disease receive the treatment at some point - and 120,000 people in the UK benefit from radiotherapy every year. But despite its benefits, it still has a slightly scary reputation, possibly because as it destroys cancer cells with a beam of high-energy rays, radiotherapy - like other cancer treatments - can also damage healthy cells. The treatment can lead to unpleasant reactions on the skin, tiredness, hair loss and mouth ulcers. But over the last 20 years huge strides have been made to improve radiotherapy and reduce these side effects. According to Cancer Research UK, decades of research into improving radiotherapy have made it more effective, sophisticated and targeted than it has ever been - and side effects have been reduced. Just last year, Dr Chris Nutting presented early results from a Cancer Research UK-funded radiotherapy trial called PARSPORT, run by The Institute of Cancer Research and The Royal Marsden Hospital. The trial tested a new cutting edge radiotherapy technique called intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT), as mentioned in the video above. Doctors found they were able to target the tumour more accurately [...]