The Pros And Cons Of Radiation Therapy

The pros of radiation therapy include: death of a large proportion of cancer cells within the entire tumor (there are minimal, if any, cancer cells are left behind in small tumors; thus, radiation alone may be used to cure certain small tumors) death of microscopic disease at the periphery of the tumor that would not be visible to the naked eye (e.g. at the time of surgery) ability to shrink tumors (which may help to relieve mass effect; or it may be done before surgery, to convert certain patients from unresectable to resectable status) relative safety for the patient (radiation can be delivered from outside of the body and focused on the tumor, is painless, and generally does not require anesthesia) synergy with systemic
therapy(i.e. the ability to kill more cells together than either therapy could do alone) organ preservation (e.g. not removing a breast, larynx, or part of the gastrointestinal tract, which would have significant negative impact on a patient’s quality of life stimulation of an immune response against the tumor